


A World Around Us

by helladirections



Series: Elysa and Liam [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-02
Updated: 2012-05-02
Packaged: 2018-05-14 11:22:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 35
Words: 69,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5741845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helladirections/pseuds/helladirections
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Elysa and Liam. Uncompleted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wipe Away My Tears

Elysa’s POV

I woke up to the soft vibration of my phone. It was a relaxing and calming sound to me now. Usually, it meant that Liam was calling or texting me. I knew it cost him a fortune to text all the way from London to California, but I couldn’t imagine not talking to him.

A lot had changed in the past week. I had spent the summer with Liam in London, and it was absolutely amazing. I still remember the moment when he made the official announcement that we were together. I smile whenever I think about it. Liam was my first everything. My first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first time…and I don’t mean anything related to the VMAs. Liam was perfect, all those firsts were perfect, and all of that was mine. I like to think that nothing changed when I left to get ready for the start of school, but he and I both knew that was wrong.

So there I was, on the first day of school, laying in my bed and staring at the ceiling. The vibrations of my phone continued every few seconds, and I flew my hand over next to my pillow. I grabbed my phone by instinct and disconnected the charger. I starred at the screen, seeing Liam’s name. It might not be his face that I had come accustomed to seeing in the morning, but it was the best I could get.

Smiling, I pressed the small green button on my not-so-smart phone that I paid for myself. “Good morning love,” Liam’s cheery voice shone through phone. At 7:00am in California, I could hardly guess what time it was back in London. Back in London? I’m from here. The thought left my head as quickly as it had appeared and it took every bone in my body to remember that he wasn’t there next to me to cuddle up against as my first day of school anxieties began to set in.

“Good morning Liam. I miss you,” I said sleepily. I could almost hear his smile. Neither of us said it, but we both knew that we missed each other terribly. Our short two month relationship was already being strained, and I could sense there would be even more difficulties.

Sometimes the boys would bring their girlfriends on tour, but Liam and I both knew that it was not going to be a possibility. I was 17. I was a Junior in high school. I couldn’t just get up and leave to travel the world with One Direction. I had the SATs, I had my last year of STAR tests, I had a transcript that was not impressive enough, and eventually, I would have college.

“I miss you too love. Now listen Elysa, I want you to have an amazing first day of school. And we both know you will. If anything gets difficult, text me. I can talk all day. If someone teases you, call me. I’ll set them strait. Ok, Elysa, are you listening to me?” I was listening; I was taking every single word he said to heart. I never wanted his voice to stop. “Elysa?”

“Y-yes Liam. I’m listening.”

“Good, now get out of bed sweetheart. “ He ended with a big of a giggle, which I returned. “Call me when you get to school, ok? Do you promise me Ely?”

I couldn’t help but smile when he called me “Ely”. He was the only one who ever possibly get away with it. “Yes Liam, I promise.”

I smiled as we said our goodbyes and I turned off the phone. This was going to be difficult.

 

Liam’s POV

I was worried about Elysa. She had been through a lot this summer, and I knew there was only going to be more difficulties with the new school year. She told me Junior year was supposed to be the most difficult. She told me she got teased all the time. And now that she was in the limelight with me, I knew it would only get worse.

After I hung up the phone I held it close to my chest. I wanted to be with her so badly. I wanted to hold her in my arms before she fell asleep, and kiss her on the forehead when she woke up. But it just wasn’t possible. She had school, and I had One Direction. Neither of us was in any place to get up and leave completely for the other; to ruin our futures and fly halfway across the world. It simply was not an option.

I spent the day with the lads, trying to get my mind off of what Elysa might be encountering in public school. They were great, joking, laughing. All of the lads were best friends with Elysa by now, and I think they missed her almost as much as I did.

But even at Nando’s, I couldn’t help but think about the first night Elysa was in London with us. We took her to Nando’s for the first time, and she had no idea what to order, so Niall ordered for her. I know she bonded with Louis a lot that night, as the rest of us went outside to play football for a bit. 

I spent practically the entire day thinking about Elysa. I could just see the way her face would light up when she sat down in the driver’s seat of her car. That thing was her baby, it was her life. She would be nothing without it. I imagined how she would be fiddling with the radio stations, even for a short 20 minute drive to school. I pictured her finding a parking spot further away from her classes than she would want, but then I imagined the flip of her hair in the early morning wind as she walked to class.

I kept looking down at my watch, as if time would fast forward until she got home from school, meaning that her day was a success. Time was going so slowly. Way…too…slowly.

Until finally, a buzzing came from my pocket. I jumped up and looked at the screen of my newish iPhone, the other lads all discretely tried to take a look to. Just what I thought, Elysa was calling.

 

Elysa’s POV

I ran all the way from the back of the school to my car, parked almost as far away as it could possibly be. I sat down in my seat, panting, trying to catch my breath. I couldn’t help it. I had just run probably half a mile and had never been much of an athlete, but more than that, I was in tears.

I pulled out my phone. The texts to my brother had gone unresponsive all day. I didn’t want Liam to know how much I had been hurt that day, but I called him anyway because he had made me promise. I held my knees up to my chest and tried to slow my breathing so I wouldn’t sound as ridiculously worked up as I was. Finally, he answered.

“Hey El-“

“It was horrible Liam!” I cut him off quickly. “I walked into my first class and everyone starred. No one would sit next to me. No one would be my lab partner. This girl Sage said she didn’t even believe me. She said you were gay and I was your beard. YOU AREN’T EVEN LOUIS OR HARRY, SHE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A SHIP TO BACK IT UP! She told me you didn’t really like me. She told me you only wanted to use me. She said horrible things to me Liam. And other girls came and asked me for autographs. I didn’t know what to do so I walked away and they all decided I was being rude. And my old friends, they won’t even talk to me. Zach said I changed. Rachel said I could come back to her when the fame had left my head. It never went to my head Liam! This is horrible!”

I felt like I had just rambled on and on about nothing and almost immediately felt guilty. But it didn’t matter to Liam. I heard him take a deep breath, obviously trying to drown out the anger towards the kids at my school so he could use his clear daddy-direction head to calm me down.

“Listen Elysa, it’s going to be ok. Are you in your car?”

“y-yes…” I stuttered a bit, still trying to hold back tears.

“Then you are ok. You are going to be fine. Take a deep breath, wipe away your tears. You are going to go home and have your brother sign guardian agreements, open your computer, and call me on skype. Then after we talk, you are going to go to bed early. Then you are going to wake up to a new day, and put on the best clothes you own and show those girls that they mean nothing to you. Do you hear me Elysa?”

I did my best to stop up my sobs. I heard everything that Liam had said, but I still had to doubt. “But what If I can’t do it Liam? What if they do mean something to me? What if they really hurt me? They hurt you, I heard it in your voice, and that hurts me even more. It’s only been one day Liam. How am I supposed to do this for two more years? I need you Liam.” I got quiet and nearly whispered the end. We both knew this was going to be tough.

“Elysa, you told me yourself what Sage said to you last year. Remember? She said no boy would ever like you. She said no boy would ever go through what it would be to kiss you. Remember?” Hearing her words again broke my heart. The day she told me that was by far the worst day of my life. I ran home from that dance and slept for three days strait. “Elysa, you proved her wrong. I proved her wrong. WE proved her wrong. She’s wrong! Don’t ever let her be right again!”

I closed my eyes and swallowed deeply, taking in his words. I wanted Liam here with me. I wanted to feel his strong arms wrapped warmly around me. I wanted him to wipe away my tears.


	2. Signing Autographs and Forms

Liam’s POV

I hung up the phone with Elysa and walked back over to the lads sitting at a table. I think my face must have said it all, because none of them even asked how she was. They just gave me sympathetic looks. Most of the boys had been through something similar with their girlfriends in the past. They always told me it was the initial hit that hurt the most; that after a week or two everything would be ok. But I didn’t want to wait that long. I wanted Elysa to be happy NOW.

“Let’s go back to the flats,” I suggested. The lads immediately agreed. We got up from the table at Nando’s and started to walk outside. Niall walked up to me with a mouth full of food and gave me a giant Horan hug. No words, just a hug.

The five of us walked outside only to see a small group of fans wanting to meet us. I put on a bit of a fake smile and took a few pictures, the other lads did as well. But there was a sense that something was wrong, and the fans knew it. One of them walked up to me and just gave me a great big hug, she didn’t even know what was wrong. It’s moments like this that I remember that we have the best fans in the entire world.

Until a paparazzi guy came up to me, taking pictures with a flash far too bright for that day. He was in all of our faces, but seemed to be especially attached to mine. Then I found out why. “Where’s Elysa? Did you break up already? How do you feel?” He practically yelled his questions at me.

I started to feel weak and the boys noticed. Niall grabbed me and, using Zayn as a way to get through the crowd, led me directly to Harry’s car. Louis was a bit oblivious to what was happening around him, but Harry walked strait up to the yelling man.

“Mate, she’s in school. Cool off.” And with that, he grabbed Louis and walked away to the car.

We sat there for a moment, the five of us in the car, unsure what to say or do. Harry and Louis were in the front seat with the other three of us in the back. Sandwiched between Niall and Zayn, I suddenly broke out into tears, covering my face. Harry took that as a queue to leave and drive us all home as Zayn and Niall did their best to comfort me. It didn’t matter though. I missed Elysa so much that it hurt. What that girl at her school, Sage, had said, it really did hurt me. I felt crushed, and I knew Elysa did as well. I just wanted to be with her, to wipe away her tears, to hold her tight in my arms so she knew I was there for her.

 

Elysa’s POV

I must have sat in my car for nearly an hour, just waiting for time to pass. I didn’t want to deal with parking lot traffic, I just wanted to be alone. That’s how I lived, alone. The fact that I had someone to call when things went horribly wrong was a very new concept to me, but I liked it. Regardless, that person, Liam, was not around, so I wanted to be alone.

Most of that hour was spent in silence. The radio was off, my phone in the back seat so I wouldn’t get distracted. I didn’t want to look at my texts. I didn’t want to see what my friends were saying on twitter. I wanted to be alone.

I can’t even describe the things that went through my mind that afternoon. Even while I was driving home, even while I was in my room alone. It was a horrible few hours as I waited a while to Skype Liam, because I wanted to seem more put together than I was.

5:00. Ok, I can do this now. I opened up my computer and connected to the internet, taking a deep breath. I didn’t even open facebook or tumblr or twitter or anything, I just opened Skype and clicked on Liam’s picture. I just wanted to hear his voice. I just wanted him to tell me that everything was going to be ok. Actually, I wanted more than that. I wanted to feel his arms wrapped around me telling me that I was safe, but I knew that wasn’t going to be possible today. I was thousands of miles away from him.

He clicked to call me before I even had a chance to try and call him, and I immediately answered. Seeing his beautiful face made me smile for the first time since I talked to him that morning.

“Hi Liam…” I started. It was then that I noticed his eyes were a bit puffy. “What happened? Were you crying?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about you a lot today. Are you doing better, love?” I lied to him and said yes, but he could see through my words. “I want you to go on facebook.” He paused when he saw the concerned look on my face. I didn’t want to deal with people right now. “Look Elysa, when you fall off a horse, you get right back on. You have to get yourself back into your life. I know what can happen to you when things go horribly wrong, and I’m not going to let it happen. So, open up your facebook.”

I did as I was told, my hands feeling weak on my keyboard. I just told myself that everything was going to be ok because Liam said it would. And he was right, everything was fine.

“Now go to twitter.” Once again, I did as I was told. But this time was a little bit different. Fans I didn’t even know sent me hate, and my lip immediately began to quiver. Liam saw and knew exactly what was wrong, and knew exactly what to say. “Lock it. Lock your tweets. Put your twitter on protected until most of this blows over.” I nodded my head and did as I was told once again. “Now I’m not going to tell you to go to tumblr, because we both know that it could say absolutely anything. But I am going to tell you to smile. Smile because you can. Smile because you have to. Smile for the both of us. Please Elysa.”

I looked down and away from the computer screen as silence filled the air. I heard the begging in his voice as I turned my head to face him again and cracked a small smile that I could manage.

“Everything will be ok Elysa. I will be here with you every step of the way. Text me all day tomorrow. Don’t wait until everything gets as bad as possible.” I shook my head in agreement. I had been relatively silent up to this point. Just as I was about to say something, Liam got a text. “Hold on, Niall’s at the door, I’ll let him in.”

Liam got up and I took another sigh of relief. Niall was my best friend at this point. I wanted a Horan hug every time I felt like something was a little bit wrong. I looked down at my phone in this small interval between talking to Liam, and saw that my brother had finally responded to one of my texts.

It’s going to be ok Elysa. I’ll be around in about an hour to sign any of your forms. As for the girls, just ignore them. They don’t mean anything. Even I can tell what you have with Liam is real.

It felt nice to get a little bit of love from my distant brother. He was basically the only family I had, and he was in college. Luckily, he was close by. He transferred schools when my parents practically abandoned me, and convinced them to add him as one of my legal guardians. A 20 year old brother taking care of his 17 year old sister might not have been the most logical choice for most, but in my life, it was what I had to deal with.

When Liam walked back into camera view with Niall there was a slightly bigger smile on my face from reading the text from my brother. “There’s the smile I love!” Liam cheered at me. I blushed a bit, as I almost always did when someone said something nice to me.

“Hey Niall. Been to Nando’s today?” I giggled a bit. I just wanted to take everything off my mind. I wanted to pretend I was with the boys in that apartment, happy, smiling.

“You don’t even know Elysa! I ordered me usual and the guy just laughed! Louis had to promise him I would actually eat everything I ordered.”

I couldn’t help but giggle at my friend’s insane appetite. “I didn’t believe it at first either! The guy must have been new.” The smile on Niall’s face reached him ear to ear. I missed this boy so much.

I stayed on Skype with Liam and Niall for a while, until my brother came home to sign some forms for me. I introduced him over the computer to the two of them, and they really seemed to get along great, which was a huge sigh of relief. After he left, I kept talking to the boys until it started to get late.

“I have to go get ready for bed. I’ll talk to y’all tomorrow though, I promise.” Both the boys’ faces dropped, as they didn’t want to be away from me either. “I promise. Goodnight, I love you both!”

“No! Elysa, don’t go!” Niall begged me. I couldn’t do anything other than giggle. “I have something really important to say!”

Liam looked at him questioningly as I asked, “Well, what it is?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I just know that I don’t want you to leave! I miss you so much Elysa. And your accent is so fun to listen to”

I couldn’t help but laugh. MY accent was fun to listen to? I missed this boy so much too. I thought back to when I first met him at the surprise show in San Jose. After the show, I was sitting on the couch with him talking, and he told me how much Liam cared about me. If I hadn’t heard it from Niall first, I don’t think I would have believed it when Liam said it to me later. This boy had been with me as long as Liam had.

“I’m sorry Nialler. I have to go to sleep. I’ll text you tomorrow and you can imagine it in my…accent.” I giggled at the word “accent” as I still believed I didn’t have one and the boy was going mad. “Goodnight, I love you.”

“I love you Elysa!” Niall cheered, Liam giggling in the background.

We hung up the call and all I could do was smile to myself as I snuggled into bed. Maybe, just maybe, I would be able to handle school tomorrow if I just remembered to take a deep breath and text Liam when something was difficult.


	3. Hiding From Reporters

Elysa’s POV

I took the next day very slowly. My alarm was set to give me more than enough time to get up in the morning and talk to Liam if I wanted, but I decided not to. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this without him. I did, however, text both Niall and Harry. Just having friends there that I knew I could contact easily made me feel a bit more confident.

So as I picked out my favorite t-shirt to throw on over a comfy pair of jeans, I was actually able to smile a bit. My newfound confidence that I had gained just from a bit of sleep and support from amazing friends was an amazing feat. As I sat down in my car, once again comfortable with who and what I was, I was able to smile.

I didn’t even bother to turn on the radio that morning. I didn’t want to risk hearing “celeb gossip” that might involve me. I still didn’t know how to handle being considered “famous”. I was just Elysa. Just a normal, dorky, lame, 17 year old California girl trying to find a balance in life. Somehow, I felt as if my imbalanced life was getting worse as of late, but I told myself that things had to get worse before they could get better, and I only hoped that was the truth.

I can do this. I thought to myself as I turned the key out of the ignition in my car. I took a deep breath and opened the car doors so I could get out and grab my backpack from the seat behind me. I closed the doors behind me and clicked the buttons on my key chain, hearing the “beep” to signify that it was locked.

But as I walked closer and closer to my first class, I noticed a difference. There were people EVERYWHERE. And yes, I go to public school where there are always people, but these were new people. These were older people. These were REAL people. It took me a good couple of minutes to fully realize who these people were – they were paparazzi, and they were everywhere. It was like a scene out of Princess Diaries, andSage was telling a reporter that we were best friends.

I covered my face and pretended to be someone else. Somehow I made it to the other side of the school by keeping a 20-foot radius between me and the nearest reporters. When I got to the other side of the school, I looked down at my phone. I had five new messages. Great, everyone wants to be my friend now…

The first message was from Niall: They found your school. Just a warning love. He was sweet. He didn’t really know what to say, but clearly wanted to say something.

The next message was friend my old school friend, Zach: Dude, Sage is lying her ass off. Meet me behind the Admin, we need to talk. I was excited, I had my old friend back. My one friend that had been there for me for so long, he was back. Even after I had been a horrible friend barely talking to him over the summer, he wanted me back and could foresee that there was going be an issue when he saw the reporters.

I walked towards the Admin building while still keeping my distance from reporters as I read Harry’s text. Love, go to the school counselor. They will keep you away from paparazzi at least during school hours. Stay strong Elysa. I smiled as I responded to him, thanking him for the suggestion.

Finally, I read Liam’s text. He had sent it first, which meant it was furthest down in my inbox. El, call me when you get a chance and aren’t around the paparazzi. I want to make sure you are ok. I can even call the school if you want me too. I love you El.

When I walked up to Zach I had a big dumb smile on my face. But the moment I made eye contact with him, our bodies collided in a giant hug.

”You need to hide in the guidance office,” his voice had a sense of urgency as I assured him that was my goal destination. He was a look out around the corner of the building. The reporters were surrounding the front entrance and we both knew that getting through that crowd was really not an option.

We ran quickly to the other side, knocking on the door of the teachers’ room that we normally would not have been allowed in. My Guidance Counselor, Ms Dan, saw the two of us and rushed us inside of her office, making sure to stay inconspicuous while we were in the view of the reporters through the window.

“You sit here, the city police are coming to get rid of the reporters. I’ll be back in moment.” And with that, Ms Dan was gone, and it was just Zach and I.

I explained to Zach that I had to call Liam, and he understood. He pushed his chair to the other side of the small office and occupied himself on his own phone as I dialed Liam’s number into mine.

 

Liam’s POV

I was pacing back and forth in my flat, waiting for Elysa to call me. The lads were sitting on the couch together, watching the news on the TV, as well as various American channels on their computers. Sage kept being interviewed by the paparazzi. She said she was best friends with Elysa ever since they were little. She said they hung out every day and she was the first to know that she and I were dating, before I even announced it. What a liar. The first people to know would have been Harry and Gemma! No one besides them had any idea until the announcement. And even then, Elysa called her brother first.

Finally, my phone rang. I pressed the green button to answer it before the first ring was even complete. Hearing Elysa’s voice made me feel so much better, knowing she was ok.

”It’s crazy Liam,” she started. “They are everywhere. No one is in class and my guidance counselor said that the city police were coming to get rid of them. I’m sitting in her office with my friend Zach right now.”

I couldn’t help but get a bit protective when she told me she was alone with another boy that wasn’t one of the lads, but she assured me that they were just friends, and always had been.

“Just promise me that you are ok right now?” I made her promise me. But even with that, I wasn’t very relaxed. “Just stay in that office until they tell you where to go. Don’t talk to anyone, ok, love?” She agreed with me again.

I wanted to stay on the phone with her for ever and ever and ever, but she said the counselor was walking back in and I knew I had to hang up.

I looked over to the lads sitting on the couch, and their faces had brightened a bit. “Mate, that was awesome. This lady just yelled at Sage to go to class and she looked all upset and then the lady yelled at the reporters for trespassing on a closed campus.” I sat down next to Louis to see the video he was watching. It was true, Sage was gone. Thank goodness.

“We don’t start work for another few weeks, right?” I asked the boys for confirmation. They all nodded. “Let’s say we go on vacation to California again?”

“You sure you want all of us mate?” Harry asked me. I was confused as to why he would question my intentions. Of course I wanted them all with me. I needed their support, Elysa needed their support. And I knew that they all really wanted to see her. I assured him that it was what I wanted and Harry gave me a little grin.

“I’ll go order the tickets.” Zayn walked out of the flat for a few minutes, before returning with flight confirmation. “We need to leave here in two hours, so we should get to packing.”


	4. Coming HOme

Elysa’s POV

Zach and I sat together in Ms. Dan’s office for a few more hours. She didn’t seem to question why he was there with me; I guess it was a known fact that he was my best friend. We spent time talking and catching up about the summer, apologizing to one another about being bad friends, and me hearing about his new girlfriend.

I kept in touch with all the boys in England through this too. I told them all about Zach, about Sage and how she was the biggest liar I had ever seen, about how Ms. Dan was the crazy lady that they were laughing at. They were really good at bringing my spirits up, all five of them, and Zach. Eventually we stopped talking about the whole situation and talked about the crazy American politics that I was following even though I was too young to vote. They had no idea what I was talking about, but it helped to get things off of my mind.

But eventually, it got to be lunch time. I had forgotten to pack something and when I remembered while driving, I figured I would just buy something. But that was no longer an option. Ms. Dan walked in just as lunch was about to begin.

“You two doing alright in here?” We nodded in agreement. “Good, good. So Elysa, we’ve called your brother about this situation. He said he would meet you at your house at about 2:00. The principle and I have devised a plan to get you back there without anyone noticing.”

I waited impatiently. I felt so safe in that room, away from reporters. I didn’t want to leave and risk being seen.

“A half hour after lunch ends, we’re going to escort you to your car. At that time, no one will b be suspecting you to be leaving, so you should be safe. If you run into anyone along your way, your brother will be responsible for you. It’s the best plan we’ve come up with. As far as the rest of the week, the teachers will be sending you your work online. You are still expected to complete it.”

I sat for a moment, letting everything sink in. Ms. Dan left swiftly and I was once again left alone with Zach. He must have seen the unsure look in my eyes, because he stood up to offer me a hug. Zach’s hugs were warm and strong, but they were not a Horan hug. I found myself standing there missing not only Niall, but Liam, Harry, Louis, even Zayn who I wasn’t all that close with.

“Here dude, take half my sandwich. I’ll go buy a piece of pizza.” I smiled as I accepted the small token from Zach. It was only then that I realized that he would be in no danger to go to classes, or be outside of this room. He was just being a good friend.

He left quickly, leaving me completely alone in the room for the first time. The solitude was nice after what I had experienced so far that day. But still, I missed having a companion to talk to. I called Liam, figuring he would still be worried. Strangely, he didn’t answer. I tried to call again, no answer. I tried Niall, then Harry, then Louis, then Zayn. None of them answered. I started to worry.

Luckily, Zach came back before too long with his slice of pizza. I took his iPhone out of his hand and inserted his pass code that I had known since he first got the phone. I went online and searched to see if anything was up with the boys, but the only news relating to them was about me. It took every fiber of my being not to look at what reporters and Sage had said about me this morning.

 

Liam’s POV

Before boarding the plane I made a phone call to Elysa’s brother. I wasn’t sure if Elysa would be in class or not ,and I didn’t want to call if she was. Her brother said that the school had planned to get her home to meet him by 2:00. I checked and saw that it was about the time that our flight would get in, and I let him know that we would meet them as soon as we could. The lads and I would have to try very hard to fit in not to lead paparazzi to Elysa’s house. That would be the last thing she wanted, invading her physical space.

That plane flight was the longest I had ever been on. It seemed to drag on and on and on and on forever. We sat in first class together so that we would be away from any fans asking questions about the exact situation we were intending on fixing. When the flight attendants asked us why we were going to California we simply responded “vacation” and somehow they bought it.

It wasn’t until the plane landed that I realized that I had never called Elysa to let her know we were coming. I turned on my phone and realized that she had tried to call a few times, and I felt guilty. At this point, I figured it would be best just to make it a purposeful surprise rather than a forgetful mistake. The lads agreed with me as we caught a taxi from the airport to Elysa’s house.

When we got there, I had Harry get out first. He went up with no bags in his hands and knocked on Elysa’s door. It was a good three minutes before she opened the door just a crack and saw him. He slithered inside through the small break in the door and the doorframe, and I could imagine Elysa’s smile as he informed her that the rest of us were in a car across the street. Every 15 minutes, one of us would throw one bag over the fence of her backyard and climb in through a back window. The name of the game now was just to wait.

 

Elysa’s POV

I heard a knock on the door and waited about three minutes. I was worried it would be paparazzi, and figured that after that amount of time, they probably would have given up and left. When I finally opened the door a crack to see who it was, I was ecstatic. I saw Harry and helped him inside without opening my door too widely.

I jumped on him with a huge hug. “But why are you here?”

“We all are. The rest of the lads are in a car down the street.” He proceeded to tell me of their elaborate plan to get inside my house without any random paparazzi seeing. It meant the world to me that they would all travel this far just to make sure I was ok.

The name of the game now was just to wait. Wait for the next boy 15 minutes from now to throw a bag over my fence and crawl in through a back window. I made Harry some tea and curled up on the couch next to him under a blanket. There was a bit of an awkward silence at first, but he broke it quickly by slurping his tea loudly.

“I’m really glad y’all came out to California.” I looked up at him.

“I’m really glad you wrote that letter to all of us.” I looked at him with skepticism. “No really Elysa, thank you. I don’t think you realize how amazing of a person you are. You mean so much to Liam, and to Niall, and to all of us really. You’ve changed our lives for the better.”

“Yeah, by adding ridiculous amounts of stress and one good food suggestions.” I giggled and passed off his comment, looking the other direction.

“No, really Elysa. Fans don’t usually talk to us. I mean, they yell at us and ask us simple questions, but no one had really ever talked to any of us the way you did. Like, uhm, you trusted us.” The words came out of his mouth slowly as always, and made me blush. “And you mean so much to me. I want to take everything you told me in the letter and fix it or make it better. I want you to have the life you want, not the life you were given.”

A tear started to form in my eye as I leaned in an hugged Harry. He was warm and cuddly, smelled just a bit of cologne. I wiped away my lone tear as I backed up and looked back up at him. His face was so beautiful. I don’t think I had ever noticed his looks before this moment. It scared me a bit. But he eventually brought me back to reality.

“Besides, you’ve made Liam so happy. The least I can do is try to put a smile on your face.” I giggled again and hugged him.

“Thank you Harry.” I blushed a bit as he continued to sip his tea. “Can you slurp any louder?” I asked sarcastically with a laugh. It made him laugh too. Then I heard a loud THUD in the backyard. I started to get up, but Harry stopped me.

“Let me just make sure it’s one of the lads.” And with that he got up.

What had just happened? The moment I had with Harry was…strange. I noticed the way he looked for the first time, and I took in the smell of his cologne. And he was so sweet to me. I had to shake this though, I knew it was nothing but a little schoolgirl crush on one of my boyfriend’s best friends.

A moment later, Niall came rushing into the room, swooping me up with a giant Horan hug. Oh how I had missed those. Every fifteen minutes another boy joined my tea party. Louis, then Zayn, then FINALLY Liam.

When Liam walked in, I ran towards him. I gave him he biggest hug I had ever given him, and I never wanted to let go. I rested my head on his shoulders, feeling his loving support as his arms were wrapped warmly around me. I missed the feeling of being close to him. I missed the way it felt to be safe in his arms. It was such an amazing feelings, I never wanted it to end.

He started to let go a bit and I refused, holding him in tighter, but he pursued. I was confused until I realized his hands had dropped to my lower back. Mine did the same as we backed away from each other a bit and just looked into the other’s eyes. He was so beautiful. Any thoughts I had of Harry were gone as I fell more and more in love with Liam just by looking at him.

His head leaned in and he started to kiss me. I was a little out of practice, and didn’t know what to do. I could feel him smile against my lips. “I don’t have to teach you again, do I?” I giggled as I reattached my lips to his, adding passion and love to the kiss. He tried to deepen it a bit, and I allowed it. I rubbed my hands along his muscular torso, remember what I had missed so much.

“Get a room!” Louis shouted from the couch. We detached and I looked over at him, giving him a sassy face and proceeding to place one last peck on Liam’s lips. I had missed this boy so much.


	5. Snuggling Up Together

Liam’s POV

That first night back with Elysa was everything I could have ever wanted. I helped her set up some makeshift beds for the other boys, using air mattresses, sofa cushion, pillows, anything we could find in that house. Although her parents were mostly out of the picture, she said the house hadn’t changed much since their departure.

So as the lads slept lazily in the living room, Elysa led me into her room. I had been in here once before, when we had the day off. At the time, she was in the shower and the five of us had snuck around looking for it, but this time she led me directly there. I looked around when I walked in. The last time I had been here I was drawn to the countless notes and pictures on her walls, but this time, the walls were bald as could be. The old yearbooks we had looked through for fun were nowhere in sight, and the bookshelf looked relatively untouched. The whole atmosphere was relatively sad. But I stayed silent and Elysa went through her room picking up some of the things from the floor, moving her laundry and somewhat making the bed.

“So um, this is it I guess. I’ll go so you can change” and with that, she was out the door. She must have gone to bathroom to brush her teeth, because she didn’t take any of her clothes with her.

I changed quickly into a comfy pair of sleep pants and sat down on her bed. This room didn’t seem right. Something was wrong with Elysa, and I needed to find out what it was. But I had to find a way to bring it up as subtly as possible.

She came back into the room to change and giggled when she saw my exposed torso. I smiled and pulled her for a soft kiss on the lips. “go brush your teeth, you smell horrible,” she cooed at me. I laughed and went into the bathroom to follow my instructions.

 

Elysa’s POV

I was afraid of what Liam thought of my room. Last time he was here was so different. My parents hadn’t completely left yet, and I was still very much a kid. Although I was extremely independent, I allowed myself to be a kid much more than I had since I came back from London. When I got back, I took down all my notes and pictures from my walls. I cleaned everything and organized everything from the past into boxes in the garage. It was all gone. I didn’t want reminders of the life I used to have.

The life I used to have. The life with my parents, before they decided to get divorced. Before the divorce meant that would be too preoccupied with each other to be decent caretakers for me. Before meant back when my brother had the ability to ignore me when he wanted to. Now that was all different. Both my parents were who knows where dealing with paperwork, living in separate apartments, while I was here alone.

I threw on my comfiest jammies and promptly put my mass of hair in a nice neat ponytail on the very top of my head. I looked in my mirror and sighed. Not only had my old life been different, but my old body had. Since I came home I had gained weight, and it was very noticeable. I quickly turned the other way, trying to get the image of myself out of my mind, and opened the door for Liam to come back inside.

 

Liam’s POV

I laid down in Elysa’s bed for the first time. It was comfortable, it carried her scent. I opened my arms to allow her to rest her head on my chest, which she did. It felt so good to be back to this. Back to normal. I loved stroking her hair at night. The high ponytail that would not be socially acceptable to wear out of bed was in the perfect position for me to play with.

We lay there for a while, the light off, silence. Until I finally broke it. “Ely, what’s wrong?” It must have caught her by surprise because I could feel her breathing stop for a moment in her throat. “Why are you like this? The walls? Where did everything go?” I was utterly confused, as I had thought that she was telling me everything.

She hesitated a bit before answering. “I was a kid last time you saw this room. I can’t be that kid anymore, Liam.” She must have sensed my questioning as she continued. “I’ve lived my entire life in this room, being taken care of. Then my parents announced the divorce. Then I went to London. And now I’m back and nothing’s the same. They didn’t just divorce each other, they divorced me. I have to take care of myself now. And I know I can do it, I practically did it before. But I can’t let myself be a little kid anymore.”

It was silent for another moment or so before my voice interrupted the air. “Love, don’t do this to yourself.”

“Do what?” she replied innocently.

“I know you have been through a lot of stress, but you are only 17. You can still be a kid if you want. I’m still a kid most of the time. I get that your parents are out of the picture, but don’t feel like you can’t rely on your brother and me. And the other boys too. Sweetie, we are all here for you. I mean it.”

I could hear her sniffle a bit, trying to hold back her emotions. “I love you Liam. I just…” she trailed off, hoping I would forget she had started.

“You what, love?”

She looked into my eyes, begging me not to make her continue, but I stood my ground. “I needed to prove to myself that I could do this. That I was strong enough.” She paused for a moment as I kept stroking her hair. “I guess I’m so used to people leaving when I need help that I don’t know how to take it when they offer it.”

At this I held her in close to me and kissed her head slowly. “I’ll never leave, Elysa. I am going to help you out.” I could feel her smile against my chest. “Do you buy your groceries, pay the electric bill?”

She was a little bit startled by this question, as it seemed off topic. “Yeah, I’ve got some money in my bank account that was supposed to be for college that I’m using but-“

“No.” I cut her off. “Keep that money, you are going to go to college. I’ll pay for that stuff.”

“Liam, you can’t do that.”

“Watch me.” I smirked and giggled. I knew she wanted to prove she could take care of herself, but I needed to prove that it was ok to rely on other people sometimes. Eventually, I got her to agree. “You are so smart Ely, I’m not letting you throw all that away when I can change that. You are going to be so amazing.”

I kissed her head again, and felt her snuggle in closer to me. I loved this, I loved her. I never wanted this feeling of her against me to go away ever again.


	6. Truth Or Dare

Elysa’s POV

I slowly began to wake up. Laying there in my bed, in a state between sleep and full consciousness, I could feel Liam beside me. We must have been touching the entire night as I drifted off in his comfort.

I wasn’t fully ready to be awake yet though, so I stayed in the same comfortable position. I had to process what Liam had said the night before. He wanted to pay for my living expenses. It was so strange to hear that someone wanted to do something to help me out like that. But I knew I had to accept. Even if I kept using my college fund, it would eventually run. My Bat Mitzvah money had already been used. My brother only made enough money as his job to put himself through school. Whether I liked it or not, I had to let Liam do this for me.

And as hard as it was for me to take this gift from Liam, I had to admit I was excited. For the first time I felt like I might actually be able to go to college. If I could get a job soon and start saving without having to worry about groceries, bills, and other little things like that, I might have enough to take at least a few classes at a community college, and that was more than I was hoping for last week.

I let a smile spread over my face as I turned over to face Liam. He looked so amazing in his in between sleep and awake state. I kissed him slowly and lightly on his lips, and backed away feeling a bit embarrassed. I don’t think that feeling of embarrassment would ever completely pass when it came to me kissing Liam.

“Good morning, love.” Liam said through his sleepy voice. I smiled as his sweetness which unknowingly turned me on. The way his voice sounded through his accent in his lazy-morning mood was so sexy.

“Good morning Liam” I giggled back.

He turned on his side and looked me with a giant smile, and kissed my lips sweetly and passionately. It made me blush and giggle a bit. I was still not in the routine of getting physical affection from Liam quite yet.

Liam stopped what he was doing and let out a huge yawn. He stretched his long, strong arms across the sides of my bed, and rolled out onto the floor, landing perfectly on his feet. I stayed where I was, sort of just admiring his sculpted body before me. I sometimes forgot that his body could be all mine if I wanted it to be. My mind traced back and forth between those thoughts and others quite often.

“Let’s see how the lads are then, yeh?” He nodded towards the door and I got out of bed to follow his lead. He instantly interlaced his fingers with mine. It felt so nice to feel his warm hand again. I had missed him so much.

We only took a few steps down the hallway when Niall ran up to us, signally to be quiet. We silently followed his lead as we saw the other three boys cuddling adorably on one small air mattress. It took everything in me to stifle my giggles.

Liam’s hand left mine for just a moment as he connected with Niall. I saw them silently count up to three and then BAM! They piled on top of the other boys. Harry, Zayn, and Louis groaned as they were awoken so unpleasantly. I could do nothing to hide the large smile stretching across my face as I saw some of my best friends in one of their more raw states.

Louis suddenly became more aware of what was happening around him and looked up at me with a grin. “Well come on Elysa, you can’t just watch.” I giggled as I made my way carefully between Liam and Louis. “That’s more like it. The rest of us like to cuddle just as much as Liam does!” he playfully shouted at me. I laughed at his remark and turned to face Liam, who caught me in a sweet kiss my surprise.

“Get a room!” Niall shouted as us.

“It’s my house, you can leave it want.” Wow, I was being incredibly sassy. Louis’ smirk told me that he was proud of my comeback.

Harry untangled himself from the mess of bodies, freeing his long curly hair from Zayn’s half-sleeping grip. “I’m gonna go check if there are still paps out there.”

We all stayed silent as we waited for Harry to come back with news. He poked his head through the curtains of one of my front windows and I saw a flash. We all knew what that meant as he walked back over to us with a low look on his face.

It was silent for a moment as all the boys were waking up and coming to the realization that we were all trapped in the house today. “Let’s close and lock all the doors and windows, yeah?” Zayn suggested. We agree and all got up. Liam told me to stay in the middle of the room so that no one would be able to catch a picture of me. I did as I was told, feeling rather helpless being trapped like an animal in my own house.

The boys all came back to me and we sat around in a bit of a circle, thinking of things to do. Or in Liam’s case, things not to do. “No phone, unless it’s your brother or maybe Zach.” The other boys looked questioningly, I guess he hadn’t mentioned my friend Zach to them yet. “No TV, no Tumblr, Facebook, or Twitter.” I agreed on the condition that he would still let me have a bit of fun today, to which he responded by grabbing my waist and giving me a peck on the cheek.

“OOOH! I know something we can do that’s fun!” Louis cheered out.

“What ever could you be suggesting young Lou-eth.” Harry asked sarcastically. We all knew the answer.

“Truth or Dare!!!” Some of the boys groaned a bit, but I smiled.

“No, it sounds like a good idea. We’ve never really played when we didn’t get interrupted by something, and seeing as there are no possible interruptions…” I looked over at Liam, my eyes making fun of his Daddy Direction ways.

So we sat there for at least fifteen minutes, just trying to agree on the rules. We would pick a number to see who had to go first. After that, it would go clockwise. We had the right to refuse a dare if at least one other person thought it was worth refusing. And we got started.

Zayn went first, and chose dare. “I dare you not to look in the mirror at ALL today!” We all cheered as Louis’ genius was coming out. Zayn groaned a bit, but was forced to agree. The look on his face was very different as he tried to find reflective surfaces around the room. We all laughed and had to remind him constantly not to look.

Niall was next, and being the slightly shy boy that he is, picked truth. We all sat there thinking for a good couple of minutes before someone came up with something really great. “Do you fancy anyone?” Harry asked. It seemed a bit childish to me. After all, I thought they would share these things with each other. But Niall looked a bit sad as he shook his head no.

“Awh, don’t worry Nialler. I’ll help you find a nice, sweet, innocent, American girl.” It was partially a lie, because I didn’t have many friends that I could think to set him up with, but it brightened his spirits and I knew I would try as best I could.

Louis’ turn came next, so when he chose dare it took a while to think of something. If only he could dare himself it would have been so much easier! Finally, Niall blurted out an amazing dare. “I dare you to always chose dare!” Louis only responded with a wink, informing us that the daredevil he is, he would have anyway, but we moved on.

It was Liam’s turn, and to be honest, I was a bit nervous. He chose truth, which calmed me a bit, before I heard the question that the boys asked him. “So that last night in London, you two get in on or what?” I blushed a bright shade of pinkish red and was unable to look anyone in the face.

“Come on mate, you gotta answer!” Niall nudged him a bit. I think they all already knew the answer, and if they didn’t before this moment, my blushing pretty much gave it away. Liam stayed silent, unsure of what he should or should not say, when Louis interrupted him.

“Alright mates, we’ll take that as a yes!” I buried my head into Liam’s chest and felt his warm arms surround me. It wasn’t that I was embarrassed to have had sex with him, I was just embarrassed to have had sex in general. It was still an awkward topic for me.

My nervousness didn’t go away when Liam’s turn was over, as it meant it was mine now. I picked truth, hoping for something more mild. I was wrong.

“Was Liam good?” Zayn shouted out. I could only giggle and smile up at Liam. I looked into his eyes, seeing a bit of a sparkle that I loved so much. There was only one obvious way to answer this question.

“Of course! He was very sweet to me.” The boys all knew it had been my first time and smiled more out of content with Liam’s character than the cheekiness I was expecting. “Ok Harry, truth or dare?”

I looked at him sitting next to me, his hair in face. He shuffled it around for a moment before opening his mouth and slowly saying “truth.” Niall, in his bit of childness shouted out at him, “do you think Elysa’s fit???” The room was silent. It was awkward. There was no right answer to this question.

“Y-yes.” He stuttered a bit.

“You can look but you can’t touch!” Liam said defensively with a grin. He pulled me in closer to him before looking into my eyes and saying to Harry, “Actually, you can’t look. She’s mine!”


	7. Get Your Own Key!

Liam’s POV

I tried my best not to act too overprotective or jealous, but Harry admitting that he thought that Elysa was fit was sort of like an atomic bomb being dropped on me. I mean, Elysa is beautiful, I knew that. But I guess hearing it come out of Harry’s mouth like that was a little bit strange. So, I held Elysa close to me, as if letting go would cause me to lose her. I couldn’t imagine that. My eyes met Harry’s as he gave me a sort of apologetic look. It made me feel a bit better to know that he didn’t actually want to steal her from me. Or at least it looked like he didn’t.

With that it was Louis’ turn again. “Truth or dare, Lou?” Zayn asked. He sat there for a moment contemplating his answer.

“Truth.”

“What’s wrong, too scared, Tomlinson?” Harry mocked him and stuck out his tongue.

“The Tommo is never too scared for anything!” he cheered back.

We sat around trying to think of a truth, but honestly, none of us were any good at it. It was really Louis who owned this game. When we came to that realization, we decided that the game was ultimately over and spread out, still exhausted for no apparent reason.

I was laying down on the floor with Elysa, wrapped in blanket and holding her closely. I looked over to her and kissed her lightly, making her smile and giggle a bit.

“Ely…” I started. “You don’t think Harry’s…..?” I couldn’t even get the rest of my words out.

Elysa’s POV

I couldn’t believe what Liam was trying to ask me. “Of course not Liam. All I want is you. He’s a nice boy and a good friend and all, but I’m yours. I promise.” I looked up at him and smiled, hoping that I could help heal his partially broken heart. His voice told me I had, but his face told me otherwise.

“Elysa. Come over here for a minute!” Harry called from across the room. By instinct, I sat up, ready to leave Liam’s arms for whatever Harry was calling me for. But just as I was about to get up, I looked into Liam’s broken face. “Elysa, hurry up!”

I looked into Liam’s eyes, starting to water with tears. “I love you more than anyone else in this world, you know that, right?” Liam didn’t answer, and his face gave no sign of what he was thinking. I kissed his forehead lightly as I took the blanket off of me and immediately felt cold.

Slowly, I walked over to Harry. “What’s up Haz?” I asked him, slightly annoyed that he had taken me away from Liam at the most inconvenient possible moment.

“I just missed you.” He gave me puppy dog eyes and opened his arms up for a hug. I obliged and hugged him, intending to only stay for a moment and then return to Liam. But Harry used his full strength to pull me on top of him and cover us with a blanket. I giggled as I was wrapped up warmly with one of my best friends.

“Harry stop. I want Liam.” He kept holding me and rolling around. “Harry,” I giggled some more, “HARRY!” I burst out at him. He quickly released his arms and backed up, feeling instantly guilty for what he just realized he had done. 

I got up and saw Liam’s face, more broken that I had ever seen it. He had always been my rock standing by me, and now he was broken. I was unsure of what I was going to do. Then I heard a knock on the door. All six of our heads turned, worried about who or what it might be. Louis got up and looked through the small peep hole.

“It’s your brother, Elysa. Should I let him in?”

“Ugh, fine. Why doesn’t he just use his own key?” I complained. I got up and went to the door, staying behind it when it was opened just enough for a person to slither through. In that short moment, I saw the flashes of cameras, hoping to catch a glimpse of me, to figure out who this person standing there was, but they had nothing as Louis was an expert at sneaking people into houses.

“Hey Sam” I smiled at my brother and gave him a great big hug that I knew we both needed, him maybe more than me even. “Why didn’t you use your key?”

He looked at me as if I was the dumb one, not knowing what was happening. “Didn’t you change the locks?” I continued to stare at him blankly. “When people are trying to break in the first thing you do is change the locks!” He was frustrated but I giggled, bringing him back down to his normal self. “Let’s go talk in my old my room, there’s some things you should know.”

He walked off down the hall, not even looking back. Classic, Sam.

Liam’s POV

I looked into Elysa’s eyes. I could she didn’t intend to hurt me, but I couldn’t help what I was feeling. She looked apologetic and kind, but it wasn’t enough at that moment. I signaled for her to follow her brother into his room because I knew it had to be important if he was showing up unannounced. And with that, she walked away.

I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach, it was as if her walking away to be with her brother meant that she would never be with me again. But I knew that was wrong. I had told her she needed to learn how to actually rely on her brother, and now she was, so I should be proud of her. In the end, I always wanted the best for Elysa. The best.

And then it hit me. What if I was not the best that Elysa could get? What if Harry was better for her than me? Or Niall? Or Louis? Or Zayn? Or her friend Zach? Or anyone else in the world? If I wanted the best for her, it shouldn’t matter who that person is, as long as it’s the best. I just wanted so badly for it to be me.

“Mate, relax. It’s her brother, he isn’t stealing her from you.” Louis said, walking over to where I was sitting, still wrapped in the blanket that I had previously been sharing with Elysa. He must have seen how broken I felt inside.

“Actually,” Zayn started to laugh. We were all very confused until he showed us his phone. “Those reporters think he might!” I looked at the screen and instantly laughed. An online tabloid that worked extremely fast had taken a picture of Sam standing in front of the doorway with the headline “One Direction GF Elysa Cheating on Liam?” I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Yeah, Elysa was cheating on me with her brother.

“That’s the smile my best mate has!” Niall cheered at me. I couldn’t help it. The headline was funny. But I was still broken on the inside, after all, it wasn’t Sam I was worried about Elysa leaving me for, it was Harry.

“Mate, you can’t just sit there and sulk.” Harry was trying to cheer me up, but he was doing a horrible job at it. “I mean…uhm…look. How would you have reacted if I said she wasn’t fit?” There was an uncomfortable silence. “You would have been mad, because we all know that she is, and it would have been insulting.”

I pondered Harry’s words for a moment, unsure what to think of them. He was right, I would have been pissed off if someone tried to say something negative about Elysa, especially if it was one of the lads, but then why was I so upset when he told the truth?

“Any one of us would have said she was fit. That doesn’t mean we all wanna snog her. It means we all think she’s fit!” Harry’s tone was somewhere between joking around and seriously pissed off, and it was difficult to read.

In the silence that followed Harry’s words, I heard murmuring from the other room. I had no idea what Elysa and Sam were talking about, but I had a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to like it. I wanted nothing more than to be there with her at every waking moment, but I couldn’t be. I was unsure if she would even want me there, would she want one of the other boys instead? Plus, she was spending time with her brother, and it might be a bit awkward if I interrupted.

Then, the door opened. Sam walked out, eyes puffy and red. I hadn’t thought I heard any crying, but it was definitely possible. He looked me in the eyes briefly, as if to apologize. He came walking towards us and sat down on the couch, holding up an old family picture. Elysa didn’t follow him.

I admired the picture Sam was holding for a moment. Elysa must have been about 10 years old. The entire family was standing together, looking happy. Sam was in a suit that was about a size too big for him, Elysa wearing a long skirt and a sweater. It must have been a big family occasion and they all looked happy. Elysa’s smile excluded her teeth, which she told me she always did when she was young because she was embarrassed of her overbite and crooked teeth. I sighed for a moment, wishing I had been around at that point in Elysa’s life. I bet she was a vibrant young child. I bet she had tons of friends, played make believe games all day. I wish I could see her that happy now.

But Louis took me out of my trance as he cleared his throat. I looked over to him, not sure what he was implying, until I remembered that Elysa was still in Sam’s old bedroom, alone. It was silent but I wasn’t sure that couldn’t mean she wasn’t crying. Elysa has her way of hiding emotions when she wants to, and now would seem like a time she wanted to.

I followed Louis; suggestion and walked down the hall, peering into the warm dark bedroom.


	8. Cradled in Love

Elysa’s POV

I followed Sam into his old bedroom. I would never tell him this, but in the week and half between leaving London and Liam and the boys showing up yesterday, I would sometimes come into this room. It made me feel comfortable and safe. Even though I couldn’t be safe in Liam’s arms, or Sam’s words, I could be safe here.

He sat down on his old bed, looking around the room. A feeling of nostalgia hit. In general, he tried to avoid this room when he came. I guess it held some bad memories for him. But he must have felt the old safety in it that I did as he invited me up onto the bed with him.

“What’s up, Sam?” I knew what he was going to tell me. Of course I knew. I wasn’t stupid. This was my family too. It was my life too. But I think I needed to hear it come out of my older brother’s mouth, otherwise I don’t think I ever would have believed it.

“Mom and Dad…they made it final today.” I took a deep breath and looked at my brother’s face. It was exactly what I was expecting. What came next, I wasn’t expecting. “You’ve become an emancipated minor…” I was confused. I always assumed they would keep some sort of custody over me, but I guess not. Even still, Sam was one of my legal guardians now. He must have seen the confusion in my face as he continued. “I’m moving in with Brooke…” he trailed off at the end of his sentence. I couldn’t believe that he was going to leave his own sister for his girlfriend that I never really believed he liked that much in a time like this.

“Sam…” I whispered, afraid saying what was on my mind would actually make it true.

“I know. But I’m not leaving you, kid.” He tried to be kind, but it didn’t work. The tears started flowing from my eyes. “I’m growing up. This family ran its course on me, and now I’m trying to be free from it. You need to understand. I will always be your brother.”

“No you won’t! You’re done being my brother and you just want to be with her!” I couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down my face.

“Elysa, you don’t understand.” He pleaded calmly with me, but I could see his eyes puffing up as well.

“Yes I do. Just go.”

And with that, Sam took one last look at me. I wasn’t his baby sister anymore, or maybe I was even more. Because he wanted nothing to do with me as he walked out the door. I sat there for a moment, trying to catch my thoughts. I slowly curled up in a ball on top of Sam’s old bed. Maybe I couldn’t find any comfort in the new Sam, but I still found some in the old Sam. The Sam that was my older brother, that was the one person on this earth I trusted more than anyone else.

Then, I saw Liam’s eyes.

Liam’s POV

I couldn’t bear to see her this broken. It was more fragile than I had seen her since…since…well it was the most fragile and broken I had ever seen her. She fell apart worse than the first time she saw a tumblr post of us, worse than when Sugarscape found out about us, worse than anything I had ever seen before.

“Ely…Elysa?” I called her name quietly, afraid that if I was too loud I would startle her. “Elysa, it’s Liam.” She turned her head to look at me. Her eyes were watery and puffy, lost of the sparkle that they usually held. She sniffled once before turning her head back into the blankets.

It killed me to see her like this. I didn’t even know what was wrong or how I could fix it. All I knew was that I wanted to fix it. That my freaking out about Harry earlier was complete overreacting because he could never handle Elysa like this.

“I love you Elysa, you know that, right?” She looked up at me and nodded before returning to her curled up position. “And so do all of the lads.” She stayed silent. “And so does Sam.” She sat up and looked up at me, her eyes more watery than before.

“N-no. Liam, he doesn’t.” I didn’t understand what she was saying. “He’s going to live with Brooke. My parents don’t love me anymore either.” That was it, I had cracked her. I grabbed on to the girl I loved and held her in close as she poured her heart out and explained everything. It must have been at least an hour and buckets of tears from us both before I heard a knock on the door.

Elysa and I looked at each other, worried about who it might be. If it was Sam, things could only get worse. If it was Harry, I might jump off the deep-end. We both held our breaths as the voice behind the door called to us.

“Can I come in?” It was Louis, so with a sigh of relief we called him inside. His eyes looked sympathetic. “Sam went out the back door. He said something about letting things sit. The other lads are taking a nap, but I couldn’t sleep.”

Lou joined us on the bed, smiling at me and pulling Elysa in for a kiss on her head. It was sweet to see their bond, even if it made Elysa blush. That blush was something that I loved about her. It reminded me of her innocence, which truthfully I had somewhat taken away a few weeks ago. But more than that, it reminded me of the person she was before this all started. The person that I knew deep down, she still was.

“Sam told us everything. Love, you are going to be ok.” I smiled at Louis. He and the lads really did care about Elysa like I thought they did. “We’re going to split the cost of anything that comes up for you.”

Elysa looked over at me and I smirked a bit. “Mate, I told Ely last night that I would pay for everything, before we even knew about this.”

“Well now you only have to pay for a fifth of it mate.” He smiled at me. I suddenly knew why I never wanted to go back to my old life. Even if I had to deal with paparazzi outside the walls of this house at this very moment, it didn’t matter. Because if I had my old life I never would have met Elysa, Louis, Harry, Niall, or Zayn. None of this would exist.

Louis wiped away a few tears from Elysa’s face and she giggled, blushing again and burrowing into my chest. I continued to wrap my arms tightly around her, and a smile slowly emerged on my face.

Breaking the moment, Niall walked in, timidly poking his head inside of the room. “Uhm, your school called Elysa. They left a message but I think you should call them back.” I looked down at her and motioned for her to leave the room whenever she was ready, which was quicker than I expected.

 

Elysa’s POV

I took a deep breath and relieved myself of Liam’s arms. Slowly, I walked out of Sam’s room, looking back for only a moment knowing that this would no longer be a place of peace for me. But I also knew that no matter what happened, Liam’s arms would be.

In the living room I saw all the curtains still drawn, the TV off, and my phone constantly lighting up while plugged into its charger. However, I also saw the caring faces of my best friends, even Zach had somehow shown up in the past hour. I hugged each of the boys as I made my way to the phone and listened to the message that my school had left. It was Ms. Dan.

“Hello. This is Laura Dan. The administration has met this morning and we have decided that it is no longer safe for Elysa to be attending public school with us. We have made arrangements to set up an independent study program through a series of online courses.”

I looked at Liam, not exactly sure of what this meant, but Liam had an idea.

“Ely, if you don’t have to be at your school to go to school anymore, this means you can come on tour with us.”


	9. Making Decisions

Elysa’s POV

Go on tour with them? There was no way that was gonna be ok with my…and then I realized. If I’m really an emancipated minor, it doesn’t have to be ok with anyone other than myself. Sure, if my parents had any idea they would be confused, but still too busy to care. And my brother would be mad as hell considering how much pressure he puts on me with school. But their opinions didn’t matter anymore.

“Are you sure Liam? I mean…don’t you have to ask Paul.?”

The smile never left his face. “Paul and I talked after you left London. He said that if anything came up and you couldn’t be here, he would insist you join us on tour.”

I looked into his eyes and smiled. I couldn’t contain my joy any longer. I ran into him and gave him the biggest hug I possibly could, and a quick peck on the lips. I blushed and giggled a bit realizing that the lads and Zach were right there. ZACH!

He looked sad and confused. We had just fixed things between us. I had ignored him all summer thinking that he didn’t care, and then in my toughest moments he showed me that he did. And now what was I doing? I was leaving him.

“Zach…” truthfully, I had no idea what to say. But I guess I didn’t need to say anything, because through Zach’s sad eyes, I could see a bit of joy. He walked up to me and gave me a hug, filled with all the friendship love we had missed over the summer.

“Elysa,” he said into the hug, “just be careful, ok? High School is rough, but the real world is rougher. If you ever need anything, call me, first.” He backed up and held my arms, looking into my eyes. Zach was possibly the most amazing friend I could ever ask for.

I turned and looked at Liam, who had let his jealousy of Zach pass. “We don’t leave right away though…?” it was more of a question than a statement.

“Well, you could stay here until we get ready to leave, or you could come back to London with us. “ It was a pretty big decision to be making on my own.

“You know what your brother would tell you.” Zach looked at me, expecting me to answer, but I honestly had no idea what he was getting at. “He would want you to do whatever would help you most in school.” It was silent for a moment as I knew he was right, but didn’t know which option made the most sense.

Liam broke into my thoughts. “If you come back to London, we can work with Paul to get you tutors while we’re on the road to help with the online work.” He was right.

We stood around for another moment or so, not exactly sure what to do now that our decision had been made. “I love you Elysa. Don’t forget about your non famous friends at home, ok kid?” It was that moment that I knew how Zach had randomly appeared in the house. Sam must have called him at some point. Zach called me “kid”, told me to do what was best for my school work, and was looking after me.

“You know I’m like four months older than you, right Zach?” I giggled and he hugged me again.

“Well, I’ve gotta go. Nice meeting you guys.” And with that he left out of the front door. I saw flashing lights and instantly got worried. I tried to run towards the door but Liam held me back.

“He’s gonna be fine. We talked him through how to leave. If anything, they’ll think he’s your new boy toy, not your brother.” He giggled as I suspected sugarscape had somehow already managed to snap a shot of Sam at the door and make what they could only believe to be a reasonable assumption.

Just then, Liam’s phone rang. He looked at the screen and with an annoyed sigh excused himself to my room to take the call. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, and turned my attention to four of the biggest idiots in the world who just happened to be smiling because they were my friends. I couldn’t help it, as the smile was contagious and started to giggle.

Louis and Niall ran up to me, giving me a giant team hug and picking me up, flinging me onto my couch.

“We get to spend every day with Elysa!” Niall cheered, high fiving Louis in moment. I giggled. This was so beyond exciting for me. I looked over at Harry and Zayn, standing awkwardly in the corner of the room, and Louis traced my site.

“Mates, get over here before Liam comes back and takes her from us!” I giggled again as the other two boys joined what had become a giant puddle of laughing, giggling, and bodies on the couch. They tried tickling me, but I fought back profusely until they had gotten tired out.

“Don’t mess with me boys, I know how to defend myself!” I ended the sentence with an awkward kick from the sofa high into the air, and the boys laughed.

Eventually, we all caught our breaths and shared a collective moment of pure happiness. It didn’t even matter that there were paparazzi outside, they could never ruin what going on in here. Out of nowhere came Niall’s voice.

“Let’s get some In-N-Out.” We all laughed, but were soon broken up as I saw Liam’s face. He had walked down the hall from my room, carrying his phone in his hands still. I could tell something was up, but I had no idea whether to be worried or excited, so I must have just looked confused.

 

Liam’s POV

I hung up the phone from talking to Sam. I knew I had to take the call, even if Elysa would have told me not to. At the end of the day, he was still her brother, and I knew that boy cared about her in some way or another.

He had heard from school as well about Elysa being enrolled in an independent study program, and immediately suggested that she join us on tour. He thought it would be best for her to be with me and the lads in a difficult time, and thought we could use my position to get her some of the best tutors possible.

Obviously, I was excited. Sam and I both cared about Elysa and both clearly knew what was best for her. And she knew too, which was good because if she had any doubts she would not let us make decisions for her.

I put on my best poker face as I walked out of the room so that I could surprise Elysa with the great news. Solemnly, I walked right up to Elysa, held her hands, and looked into her eyes. She seemed confused as to if she should be happy or upset, but my face soon broke into a smile and laugh as I just couldn’t hold in my excitement any longer.

“You’re coming on tour!”

The lads all cheered as I gave Elysa a sweet kiss on the cheek. It was such an amazing moment. I was with the most amazing people in the world, including the girl that I was madly in love with. And I just reconfirmed that she would be with me, by my side, for the next few months at least. 

I joined the cuddle puddle pile that had formed on the couch and we all continued laughing. I wanted this moment to last for ever and ever and never ever end. I wanted the rest of my life to be like this.

I was stuck in a trance of Elysa’s eyes when Louis and Zayn came up with the devilish idea to run outside and rush the reporters. “It’s simple, really” they claimed, “we dress up in really bright trousers and everything, and open the door, and then rush into them. Just gotta make sure we lock the door before they can try to get in.”

After a moment of thinking, I decided that even the daddy directioner in me could not keep from doing this. It sounded like so much fun and a great way to show the paparazzi who they were dealing with. I knew it would give Elysa some confidence around them too, that it would remind her how amazing of a person she is and that a few camera flashes would in no way change that.

“I’m in!” I cheered, as I pulled Elysa up off the couch. We ran into the garage where Elysa led us to all their old Halloween costumes. We pulled on clown costumes paired with witches paired with objects that I don’t even think have a name. After taking some pictures together we headed to the front door.

I couldn’t help but look at a picture of Elysa and I all dressed up. Her smile was simply intoxicating and her eyes sparkled with joy. This was the girl I fell in the love with. The girl that I couldn’t stop thinking about after reading her letter that came from thousands of miles away. This was Elysa.

“One…two…three!” Louis counted down and we stormed out on the paparazzi. I made sure to close and lock the door so that none of them could invade Elysa’s privacy, and I grabbed her hand. As fun as I knew this was going to be, I didn’t like the idea of potentially losing her to a few crazies.

We ran, hand in hand, down Elysa’s street. Louis and Zayn led the way, Niall making sure to stay behind us so nothing would happen. I had to slow my pace, remembering that Elysa was not much of a runner like I was, but it was ok. We ran with smiles on our faces and a bounce in our step. I tried not to notice, but Elysa had not exactly taken the precautions to find something super supportive to wear, but I couldn’t exactly complain at the view either.

We ran together all the way around the block until we were sure that the paparazzi had given up on us. Louis wanted to run further but I could tell by the look in Elysa’s face that she was more than done.

“We did it!” Niall cheered, high fiving all the lads. Zayn was having a tough time trying to catch his breath, as well as Elysa. They both suggested we go back at the same time.

“Hop on!” I told Elysa, bending my knees so that she could jump onto my back so I could carry her home.

“No Liam! I’ll hurt you, I’m too big.” That broke my heart to hear. Elysa was perfect in every single way, and to think that she didn’t think that was mortifying.

“No, you won’t. I promise. And if you do, I’ll make Haz take you!” That must have convinced her because with a sigh, she jumped onto my back. I could feel her trying to support her own weight, but I wouldn’t let her. “Seriously babe, I’ve got you.” She giggled and I can only assume she blushed as she finally gave in, allowing me to carry her back.

I knew as we walked that I had another mission for the next few months. Adding to my list of putting on an amazing show with my best mates for the best fans in the world, maintaining and amazing relationship with the most amazing girl I could ever ask for, I added on the challenge of truly making her believe that she was as beautiful as I saw her.


	10. Good Morning

Liam’s POV

I could tell Elysa was nervous from the moment we left her house. I had grabbed onto her hand, trying to comfort her. I squeezed her when I felt her getting nervous, rubbed her thumb when she started to shake. But there wasn’t much I could do. She was scared and I could tell.

It’s not like I could blame her. Last time she had come to London with me the trip had an expiration date. But this time, neither of us really knew how far this would be going. I tried my best to keep a strong front for her, because I knew she needed my support.

Being strong wasn’t that difficult, to be honest. Although I had some of those second thoughts that she did, which was natural, I couldn’t have possibly been more excited. I was going to go on tour with my best mates, live the life I’ve always wanted, and share it with the girl I loved. There was nothing that could have been better than this. And to tell the truth, I was hoping that now that Elysa and I had made that next step in our relationship, that the moment on the last night of her being in London with me before going back to California was so perfect and amazing, it would happen a little more often.

Honestly, between Elysa’s worries and mine, Elysa’s excitement and mine, and the rest of the lads, the flight had been exhausting. So when we landed back in London we decided to find a way out and to the cars without seeing too many fans. It was a good thing we did too, because we all looked horrible. Harry’s hair was a thick mess, Zayn’s quiff was virtually flat, you couldn’t even see the normal sass that Louis had, and don’t even get me started on Niall. The six of us slept the entire car ride back to our flats, and Elysa and I crashed the moment we got into the bed, I can only assume the same was true for the other lads.

 

Elysa’s POV

I woke up and rolled over, having almost forgotten where I was. When I opened my eyes and saw Liam’s beautiful face beside me, I couldn’t help but smile. This was exactly where I wanted to be. For the first time in over a week, I actually slept through the night. I had a nice dream about Niall, Louis, and Sam, and woke up to the sun squeezing beautifully through the windows beside the bed. It was a perfect moment.

Liam opened his eyes soon after and noticed me staring at him. “I promise I wasn’t being creepy!” I quickly defended myself. He giggled, kissing my sweetly and assuring me that it was ok. I smiled again, and kissed him back. Something about being here, in this bed, made me more confident. Or maybe it was just that I was with Liam.

No longer did I blush whenever he complimented me, or feel embarrassed when he kissed me. Now, I was happy for these things to happen. It felt good and it felt right and I loved it. I wouldn’t want it to be any other way, or with any other person.

Liam kissed me again, this time lingering a bit longer on my lips than usual. I kissed back, enjoying the moment, savoring the feeling that Liam gave me. Even after we had both just woken up, our mouths worked in perfect sync. I smiled into his lips and he smiled back before deepening the kiss.

I allowed his tongue access into my mouth and let him have the dominance. I still wasn’t very confident when it came this aspect, so I just tried to relax. It was nice and I felt loved at every moment that Liam and I were touching. His large t shirt that I had thrown on the night before was soft and warm, and still smelled like him, as did the sheets. I was so happy in this moment.

Then, Liam rolled over so he was more on top of me, and tried to deepen the kiss even further. “mmhmm” I shook my head no, trying to get him off of me.

“Why not?”

“It’s too early Liam. I don’t feel attractive and I’m not in the mood.” He was upset and I could see that. Did he really want it that badly? “Maybe later, when the moment is right.”

“We waited for the perfect moment last time, can’t we just go ahead with it now?” I contemplated what he said. It was true, I made him wait until right before I was leaving back for California, and he made the moment perfect for me. Louis had said that he wanted it so badly so he could show me how much he loved me in a way that he couldn’t otherwise. And I believed him. But now I was second guessing. Did he just do it with the intention of being able to mess around with me whenever he wanted.

“Every time should be a perfect moment Liam.” He looked upset, but he swallowed it up quickly.

I decided then that I was going to make him wait at least two weeks before having sex again. I wanted to make sure he really loved me for me, and not my body. Something I didn’t even question until that moment. But when he seemed to want it so badly, when he didn’t understand why I wanted it to be in a better moment, even when it wasn’t the first time, I had to question some things.

“I love you Liam,” I reminded him, with a small kiss on his lips. He smiled.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he rolled his eyes playfully at me and got up. “How about some breakfast then?” I nodded my head yes as he got up out of bed and turned to looked at me. “Up you go!” he cheered at me. I just wanted to stay in bed all day and sleep forever. It had been so long since I slept as well as I did last night.

“Please Liam?” I begged and gave him a puppy dog look, but his puppy face was far better than mine, and I caved. “Fine, but you’re cooking,” I said playfully as I sighed and got out of the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my cheek from behind, making giggle. I turned my head backwards and kissed him on the lips before he whispered into my ear “I love you,” which only caused me to giggle and blush more. It’s moments like this that make it hard to believe that only a few months ago I was sitting alone in my room with no friends doing homework. Things had clearly escalated quickly, but had I let them go too quickly?

Liam released me for a moment before taking my hand in his and leading me down the hall from the bedroom to the kitchen, and signaling for me to sit at the counter. I did as I was told and sat there, mesmerized by the beautiful boy standing in front of me, cooking pancakes. Right on cue, Harry burst through the door without even bothering to knock. It was just like the first morning I woke up after being here last time.

“Morning Elysa, morning Liam. So guess what happened last night?” I rolled my eyes. Had the boy seriously managed to find a girl in his extremely tired state that late at night?

“What Harold, please inform us of your mischievous adventures with the female species.” Liam tried to stifle a laugh, but failed awfully, spilling some pancake batter in the act.

“Actually,” Harry looked a bit annoyed for a moment, but it quickly passed as his excitement came back, “I got a call that you might be interested in Elysa. But if you don’t wanna hear it…” He trailed off and started walking away from me.

“No, wait! Harry! What was it?” I couldn’t believe he was doing this to me.

“Fine fine, I guess you’ll have to know.” I smiled with a feeling of accomplishment even though deep down I knew he would have to tell me sooner or later. “Your brother called a tutoring agency as soon as he found out about you coming on tour with us, and he’s interviewing tutors over the phone today.”

As exciting as that was, it was a little strange. I thought Sam didn’t care about me anymore, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe he did still love his little baby sister like he said he did. But at the same time, I kind of wanted to be a part of choosing my OWN tutor. After all, it was an independent study program.

“Tell him to choose three and then I’ll choose from them.” For a moment I was a bit confused as to why Sam would have called Harry, and not me or Liam. Then I remembered that I had never given him Liam’s number, and he probably assumed I was still mad at him, which I was. I guess Harry was the next best thing he could think of.

“Will do,” he said with a smile. “Making enough for me, mate?” he asked Liam.

“Nope,” he stuck out his tongue playfully.

“Damn it, I’ll have to steal some food from Louis then. I can’t wait for Gemma come.” 

“GEMMA’S COMING?” I nearly screamed. Gemma was becoming like a sister to me, and I realized I hadn’t talked to her in a few days. This day just kept getting better and better.

“Yeah,” Harry laughed. “She wanted to see you and we’re each allowed one guest on tour. I figured you two would have fun.” He was right. I was ecstatic.

I immediately ran back to the bedroom and grabbed my phone to text her. I missed her so much and finding out that she would be coming on tour was amazing. “When’s she coming?” I asked Harry.

“uhhhhhhhhhh…..few days before we leave.” He finally said. He spoke so slowly that it was killing me.

“Haz, you need to learn not to keep things like this from me.” I said with a smile. He winked back at me before saying his goodbyes and heading back out the door, muttering something under his breath about how Louis’ cooking was, and I couldn’t help but giggle.

Just as he left, Liam brought me a steaming plate of pancakes. They looked delicious and perfectly fluffy. I sat, enjoying my amazing breakfast, across the table from my amazing boyfriend, in an amazing apartment. I could never figure out what had happened in my life to make it so amazing, but here I was, and I was ok with that.


	11. Learning in London

Elysa’s POV

Math sucks. I. Hate. Math. There is just no other way to say it. So trying to do math homework by myself was really difficult. I kept getting distracted by Liam in the other room. He was doing a twitcam for his fans, and I kept yelling in there to tell him to be quiet. But in reality, if he was quieter I would have nothing to make me smile while doing this.

“Liam! I give up! Come do this for me!” I yelled across the apartment. I heard him chuckle from the other room.

“Elysa, do your maths!”

“How many times do I have to tell you this,” I said as I walked into his doorway, “there is no “s” at the end, there is only one of them, and it sucks.” It made him giggle. I always thought it was weird that Europeans called it ‘maths’ and not ‘math’, and he thought it was weird that we didn’t.

“Love, go do your work or your brother will make you go back home.” He gave me his famous puppy dog face as I gave in and started walking the other way, but not before hearing him turn to his fans and say, “let’s help her out, get hashtag Elysa do maths trending!” I couldn’t help but giggle as I went back to the living room where I had set up all of my school work.

At first I had been really excited for independent study, then I realized how hard independent would be. Harry had gotten a call from Sam a few days earlier talking about finding a tutor, and the boys and I had spent hours and hours interviewing potentials. But most of them were either crazy, old and boring, or huge fans of the boys that didn’t actually care anything about me or my school work. It was tough, and I hadn’t realized how tough it was going to be.

After about half an hour of my lame excuse for “trying” math homework, I heard a knock at the door. I got up, knowing who it would be. The girl standing in front of me was so beautiful, and I was so happy to be able to love her like a sister. Gemma walked in and hugged me before picking up my math books.

“What is this, statistics?” She asked.

“Mhmm,” I answered, “I thought it would be easier than Calc…” I trailed off, knowing that none of this really mattered. Gemma was there to help me, but she was never any good at it. She was encouraging and smart and happy and made the work easier just by being there though.

The two of us sat there for about an hour talking and gossiping, occasionally remembering that I was supposed to be doing my work. I knew I needed to focus though. If I didn’t do well on this I wouldn’t be able to have a high enough GPA to even think about getting into the college that I wanted to go to.

Liam came in the room, apparently done with his twitcam and started to rub my shoulders while I failed miserably at my work. I could tell he saw the pain in my eyes whenever I tried to do this, not all my work, just with math. And I knew because he told me time and time again that he wished he could just make it go away. I looked up at him and smiled, remembering why I was in this position in the first place, and got re-motivated to work.

“Liam, I need to focus,” I whined at him.

“I know love, but I just want to see you happy.”

“If I finish this then I will be happy. I’ll feel successful, and I’ll have the chance to be successful. I’m not talented like you babe, I need to be smart to earn money.”

It was true. Being with Liam and having the chance to be around expensive things really made me realize how hard I was going to have to work. Here, with Liam, if I wanted pizza for dinner, he would call for pizza, and if I wanted a fancy dinner, he would call for a car to take us somewhere. It didn’t matter what I wanted, he could get it for me, and he didn’t even have to think twice about it. I knew that it would never be that way for me, but I at least wanted to be able to live a normal life at some point, and that meant doing well in high school so I could go to college so I could get a good job and make money.

I could tell it made him a bit upset, me talking about school like it was the most important thing in the world while he was right there telling me that I was, expecting me to reciprocate. “I love you Liam, but I need to do this if I want to get anywhere in life.”

I think between that comment, and the implications that he didn’t have to be smart to have money like I did, I had accidentally really hurt him.

“Fine,” he said harshly, “You do your work and stay in here all day and do nothing while we’re on tour and don’t experience all the places you never would have gotten to go otherwise. If that’s what you want, then fine.”

It was an awkward moment. Gemma had slipped out when Liam started heating up, and I could only assume she went back to Harry’s. Liam and I sat there for a while, bickering back and forth like small children. Was it more important to study, or experience? Honestly, I didn’t know. But it got us into a fairly heated argument.

“I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!” I got up and stormed out of Liam’s apartment, and without thinking, went straight to Niall’s.

 

Liam’s POV

As I saw Elysa walk out that door, I couldn’t fathom what I had just done. My emotions had run amuck. It was a strange combination of being terrified that I had lost her, and still being so pissed off at what she had said.

She basically told me that I didn’t work for what I got. She said she needs to work hard and study, which is true, but she made it sound like I didn’t work at all. This didn’t come easy. I tried out of the X Factor twice, almost got sent home from boot camp, and then worked my butt of with the lads to get to where we are today. I couldn’t handle it. I thought she appreciated me more than that.

I just had to take a deep breath. I laid down on my bed, staring at the blank ceiling above me, trying to figure out what to do next. I couldn’t go find Elysa. I knew she would probably be with Niall or Louis, so I couldn’t call either of them. Zayn wasn’t around this week, he went to visit family. That left Harry. I picked up my phone and dialed his number.

“Haz?” it was the first word I had spoken since Elysa left, and I only just then realized the shakiness of my voice.

“Liam, what’s wrong mate?” He could tell right away something was off.

“Elysa and I just got in a fight.” I poured it all out to him and he just sat there, listening.

“I know,” he finally said after I had explained everything. “Gemma told me things were awkward so she left. But mate, this was your first real big fight. This means you’re a real couple now!” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I knew Harry was just trying to make things easier for me, to find a bright side for me, but it wasn’t really helping.

“Haz, you don’t understand. I’m still mad at her for what she said, but I’m afraid I might have said something to lose her.” My voice went weak at the end. I couldn’t imagine losing Elysa, not now, not after all we had both put into this.

He did a good job of calming me down after that, trying to tell me that everything would be alright and there was nothing I could say or do that would make Elysa want to leave me so quickly. He reminded me that even if she did want to leave, she wouldn’t be able to pay for her flight back, and none of the lads would pay for it when they could try to convince her to stay.

I got off the phone after thanking him for being such a great friend. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without these boys. I realized how stupid it was for me to be fighting with Elysa. She didn’t need one more stress in her life, not with her parents’ divorce, her brother moving, and the insane stress of school. I decided to walk over to Louis’ place and see if she was there, to try and talk things out a bit.

 

Elysa’s POV

I went to Niall’s apartment first, and upon seeing that he wasn’t there, went over to Louis’. I knocked the door, trying to hold back tears and rage all at the same time. I had no idea what had just happened. Did I really just do that? I couldn’t afford to fight with Liam, I needed him so badly.

Louis opened the door with a smile but I just collapsed into his arms, sobbing. I held him tight, and he returned the favor. We stood there for a moment, him trying desperately to figure out what was wrong without actually saying anything. Eventually, he moved us inside and to the couch.

I saw that Niall was there , which explained his absence at his own place. I sat down between the boys and without having to explain anything, receive amazing hugs and support. Tears had flown down my face and I had rubbed my runny nose raw. There were wet spots on both the boys’ shirts as I had stuffed my head into their chest while letting my emotions out. Finally, I slowed down my breathing and was able to speak clearly.

I explained to both of them what had happened. I felt so guilty, yet still so mad. I didn’t mean to hurt Liam, I knew how much work it was for him to get where he was. I also knew that he had never planned on going to college, and if it wasn’t for his music, would be working in a factory somewhere. And I knew that wasn’t an option for my own future. I had to work hard and do well in school. I had to go to college. And I had to get a good job. And it felt like he didn’t fully respect that.

Louis continued to cradle me and rock me back and forth. He was so sweet. I caught up on my breathing as he and Niall spoke softly to me, encouraging me that everything was going to be ok. It was nice to have this from a friend, but it made me miss Zach a little bit.

After a few minutes of this, Louis got up to use the bathroom, and I retreated back to Niall’s arms. He held me tightly and warmly, whispering to me. I burrowed my head into his chest like I had before and squeezed my eyes as tightly together as I possibly could. I was trying so hard to gain back control of my emotions, but it just wasn’t working yet.

“You are going to be fine, Elysa,” he said in his thick Irish accent. I giggled a bit, but I wasn’t sure why. It was just something that happened without my knowledge sometimes. “What’s funny?” he asked innocently.

“Nothing,” I replied softly, and I looked back up at him.

Around then, I had heard a knock at the door. Louis was going to answer it when Niall looked down at me and kissed me softly on my head. I blushed and giggled again, and then I saw Liam. Had he seen Niall kiss me? Did he think it was more than it was?

“Liam…” I said softly. But no words were necessary. He walked over to me quickly and picked me up off of Niall and embraced me tightly in his own arms. My head was burrowed into his chest now, as I found my warm spot. Finally, things were right again.

“I love you Ely,” he whispered into my ear, before kissing my head in the exact place that Niall had. It was obvious he had seen it. He seemed scared, he seemed like he thought I was going to leave him.

I backed up a bit so our arms were still around each other but I was able to look him in the eyes. “Let’s never fight again,” I said with a smile, “one time was enough.” He laughed as he pulled me back in tightly.

“There is nothing more perfect that you could have said,” he told me. I hugged him either tighter, remembering how much I loved this boy. We might have our different ideas of a career and a future, but that didn’t matter. I knew that as long as I was in his arms, everything would be ok.


	12. Barefoot Adventures

Elysa’s POV

Math sucks. I. Hate. Math. There is just no other way to say it. So trying to do math homework by myself was really difficult. I kept getting distracted by Liam in the other room. He was doing a twitcam for his fans, and I kept yelling in there to tell him to be quiet. But in reality, if he was quieter I would have nothing to make me smile while doing this.

“Liam! I give up! Come do this for me!” I yelled across the apartment. I heard him chuckle from the other room.

“Elysa, do your maths!”

“How many times do I have to tell you this,” I said as I walked into his doorway, “there is no “s” at the end, there is only one of them, and it sucks.” It made him giggle. I always thought it was weird that Europeans called it ‘maths’ and not ‘math’, and he thought it was weird that we didn’t.

“Love, go do your work or your brother will make you go back home.” He gave me his famous puppy dog face as I gave in and started walking the other way, but not before hearing him turn to his fans and say, “let’s help her out, get hashtag Elysa do maths trending!” I couldn’t help but giggle as I went back to the living room where I had set up all of my school work.

At first I had been really excited for independent study, then I realized how hard independent would be. Harry had gotten a call from Sam a few days earlier talking about finding a tutor, and the boys and I had spent hours and hours interviewing potentials. But most of them were either crazy, old and boring, or huge fans of the boys that didn’t actually care anything about me or my school work. It was tough, and I hadn’t realized how tough it was going to be.

After about half an hour of my lame excuse for “trying” math homework, I heard a knock at the door. I got up, knowing who it would be. The girl standing in front of me was so beautiful, and I was so happy to be able to love her like a sister. Gemma walked in and hugged me before picking up my math books.

“What is this, statistics?” She asked.

“Mhmm,” I answered, “I thought it would be easier than Calc…” I trailed off, knowing that none of this really mattered. Gemma was there to help me, but she was never any good at it. She was encouraging and smart and happy and made the work easier just by being there though.

The two of us sat there for about an hour talking and gossiping, occasionally remembering that I was supposed to be doing my work. I knew I needed to focus though. If I didn’t do well on this I wouldn’t be able to have a high enough GPA to even think about getting into the college that I wanted to go to.

Liam came in the room, apparently done with his twitcam and started to rub my shoulders while I failed miserably at my work. I could tell he saw the pain in my eyes whenever I tried to do this, not all my work, just with math. And I knew because he told me time and time again that he wished he could just make it go away. I looked up at him and smiled, remembering why I was in this position in the first place, and got re-motivated to work.

“Liam, I need to focus,” I whined at him.

“I know love, but I just want to see you happy.”

“If I finish this then I will be happy. I’ll feel successful, and I’ll have the chance to be successful. I’m not talented like you babe, I need to be smart to earn money.”

It was true. Being with Liam and having the chance to be around expensive things really made me realize how hard I was going to have to work. Here, with Liam, if I wanted pizza for dinner, he would call for pizza, and if I wanted a fancy dinner, he would call for a car to take us somewhere. It didn’t matter what I wanted, he could get it for me, and he didn’t even have to think twice about it. I knew that it would never be that way for me, but I at least wanted to be able to live a normal life at some point, and that meant doing well in high school so I could go to college so I could get a good job and make money.

I could tell it made him a bit upset, me talking about school like it was the most important thing in the world while he was right there telling me that I was, expecting me to reciprocate. “I love you Liam, but I need to do this if I want to get anywhere in life.”

I think between that comment, and the implications that he didn’t have to be smart to have money like I did, I had accidentally really hurt him.

“Fine,” he said harshly, “You do your work and stay in here all day and do nothing while we’re on tour and don’t experience all the places you never would have gotten to go otherwise. If that’s what you want, then fine.”

It was an awkward moment. Gemma had slipped out when Liam started heating up, and I could only assume she went back to Harry’s. Liam and I sat there for a while, bickering back and forth like small children. Was it more important to study, or experience? Honestly, I didn’t know. But it got us into a fairly heated argument.

“I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!” I got up and stormed out of Liam’s apartment, and without thinking, went straight to Niall’s.

 

Liam’s POV

As I saw Elysa walk out that door, I couldn’t fathom what I had just done. My emotions had run amuck. It was a strange combination of being terrified that I had lost her, and still being so pissed off at what she had said.

She basically told me that I didn’t work for what I got. She said she needs to work hard and study, which is true, but she made it sound like I didn’t work at all. This didn’t come easy. I tried out of the X Factor twice, almost got sent home from boot camp, and then worked my butt of with the lads to get to where we are today. I couldn’t handle it. I thought she appreciated me more than that.

I just had to take a deep breath. I laid down on my bed, staring at the blank ceiling above me, trying to figure out what to do next. I couldn’t go find Elysa. I knew she would probably be with Niall or Louis, so I couldn’t call either of them. Zayn wasn’t around this week, he went to visit family. That left Harry. I picked up my phone and dialed his number.

“Haz?” it was the first word I had spoken since Elysa left, and I only just then realized the shakiness of my voice.

“Liam, what’s wrong mate?” He could tell right away something was off.

“Elysa and I just got in a fight.” I poured it all out to him and he just sat there, listening.

“I know,” he finally said after I had explained everything. “Gemma told me things were awkward so she left. But mate, this was your first real big fight. This means you’re a real couple now!” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I knew Harry was just trying to make things easier for me, to find a bright side for me, but it wasn’t really helping.

“Haz, you don’t understand. I’m still mad at her for what she said, but I’m afraid I might have said something to lose her.” My voice went weak at the end. I couldn’t imagine losing Elysa, not now, not after all we had both put into this.

He did a good job of calming me down after that, trying to tell me that everything would be alright and there was nothing I could say or do that would make Elysa want to leave me so quickly. He reminded me that even if she did want to leave, she wouldn’t be able to pay for her flight back, and none of the lads would pay for it when they could try to convince her to stay.

I got off the phone after thanking him for being such a great friend. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without these boys. I realized how stupid it was for me to be fighting with Elysa. She didn’t need one more stress in her life, not with her parents’ divorce, her brother moving, and the insane stress of school. I decided to walk over to Louis’ place and see if she was there, to try and talk things out a bit.

 

Elysa’s POV

I went to Niall’s apartment first, and upon seeing that he wasn’t there, went over to Louis’. I knocked the door, trying to hold back tears and rage all at the same time. I had no idea what had just happened. Did I really just do that? I couldn’t afford to fight with Liam, I needed him so badly.

Louis opened the door with a smile but I just collapsed into his arms, sobbing. I held him tight, and he returned the favor. We stood there for a moment, him trying desperately to figure out what was wrong without actually saying anything. Eventually, he moved us inside and to the couch.

I saw that Niall was there , which explained his absence at his own place. I sat down between the boys and without having to explain anything, receive amazing hugs and support. Tears had flown down my face and I had rubbed my runny nose raw. There were wet spots on both the boys’ shirts as I had stuffed my head into their chest while letting my emotions out. Finally, I slowed down my breathing and was able to speak clearly.

I explained to both of them what had happened. I felt so guilty, yet still so mad. I didn’t mean to hurt Liam, I knew how much work it was for him to get where he was. I also knew that he had never planned on going to college, and if it wasn’t for his music, would be working in a factory somewhere. And I knew that wasn’t an option for my own future. I had to work hard and do well in school. I had to go to college. And I had to get a good job. And it felt like he didn’t fully respect that.

Louis continued to cradle me and rock me back and forth. He was so sweet. I caught up on my breathing as he and Niall spoke softly to me, encouraging me that everything was going to be ok. It was nice to have this from a friend, but it made me miss Zach a little bit.

After a few minutes of this, Louis got up to use the bathroom, and I retreated back to Niall’s arms. He held me tightly and warmly, whispering to me. I burrowed my head into his chest like I had before and squeezed my eyes as tightly together as I possibly could. I was trying so hard to gain back control of my emotions, but it just wasn’t working yet.

“You are going to be fine, Elysa,” he said in his thick Irish accent. I giggled a bit, but I wasn’t sure why. It was just something that happened without my knowledge sometimes. “What’s funny?” he asked innocently.

“Nothing,” I replied softly, and I looked back up at him.

Around then, I had heard a knock at the door. Louis was going to answer it when Niall looked down at me and kissed me softly on my head. I blushed and giggled again, and then I saw Liam. Had he seen Niall kiss me? Did he think it was more than it was?

“Liam…” I said softly. But no words were necessary. He walked over to me quickly and picked me up off of Niall and embraced me tightly in his own arms. My head was burrowed into his chest now, as I found my warm spot. Finally, things were right again.

“I love you Ely,” he whispered into my ear, before kissing my head in the exact place that Niall had. It was obvious he had seen it. He seemed scared, he seemed like he thought I was going to leave him.

I backed up a bit so our arms were still around each other but I was able to look him in the eyes. “Let’s never fight again,” I said with a smile, “one time was enough.” He laughed as he pulled me back in tightly.

“There is nothing more perfect that you could have said,” he told me. I hugged him either tighter, remembering how much I loved this boy. We might have our different ideas of a career and a future, but that didn’t matter. I knew that as long as I was in his arms, everything would be ok.


	13. Let Me Love You

Liam’s POV

I took Elysa’s hand in mine and held her closely. I didn’t want to risk her leaving again, or being pulled away by fans. Most of them saw the look on our faces and backed off, went to the other boys instead. A few still tried to get to me, but we just kept walking quickly.

 

“Don’t your feet hurt?” I asked her, sincerely worried about her being barefoot outside. She smiled and giggled, shaking her head ‘no’ in response. It was nice to see that look on her face again. I kissed her on her head and smiled back as we continued to walk.

 

We finally made it back to the hotel, and to our room. But in front of our door, was Paul. He looked mad, and I was unsure why.

 

“Everything Ok, Paul?” I asked.

 

“No, you and I need to talk,” he paused to look at Elysa, “alone.”

 

I looked at Elysa apologetically, but she seemed to understand. I kissed her lightly on the lips, causing her to blush, and reminded her that I loved her as I slipped the room key in and out of the door handle. She disappeared behind the door and Paul walked me down the hall.

 

Elysa’s POV

I took a deep breath and swallowed back my pain that Liam wasn’t able to walk into the room with me. He said he had something to say to me, and I really wanted to know what it was. But I had to get used to the fact that he was on tour, and that meant that I couldn’t have him all the time. I had to share him with his fans and with his management and with the media, and I just had to learn how to get used to it.

 

I laid down on the bed, my back falling into the soft cushiony mattress and plush blankets. I forced my eyes to stay open as I continued to admire the room around me. It was huge. Way bigger than the room we stayed in that night in California, and way bigger than anything I had ever experienced on my own. The bedroom was cozy, with a huge TV, just like Liam’s at his apartment. Then there was a living room, with another large TV, a mirror, a desk, plenty of seating. There was even a mini kitchen with a mini fridge, microwave, a toaster, and some counter space. And the bathroom was amazing. The huge shower head had gazilions of different settings, there were two sinks, everything was just…wow.

 

But I couldn’t hold my eyes open much longer, as the high emotion of the day had already worn me out. I felt my eyelids become heavy, but my vision had mostly blurred already. I smiled as I felt myself drift into slumber.

 

Liam’s POV

Paul sat there and talked to the five of us in a room together. But honestly, I have no idea what he was saying. All I could think was Elysa alone in that bedroom. I knew her history and I was honestly afraid of what she might do while she was feeling like this. I wanted to prove to her that she didn’t need to feel badly about herself, that she needed to love herself as much as I loved her.

 

It must have been an hour later when Paul finished talking. We got up and walked back down the hall. The lads were silent, probably curious about Elysa, about what was happening. I didn’t break the silence though, because I didn’t exactly know what to say. I didn’t know how she was doing because Paul had pulled me away.

 

I finally got to my room and slid the key in. I opened the door slowly, almost afraid of what I might see. But I was met with a happy surprise. Elysa was peacefully sleep on the bed in front of me. I smiled as I closed the door slowly and quietly, being careful not to wake her up from what must be a beautiful dreamland. I slowly crawled into bed with the girl of my dreams, and put my arm around her.

 

I’m not sure how long I was lying for. I must have fallen asleep at some point. But eventually, I felt some movement within my arms. I opened my eyes to see Elysa smiling at me, and I sweetly kissed her lips. She blushed, as always, and I smiled. I loved this girl so much, so much more than she would ever understand. It broke me to think that she didn’t love herself that much. But I was determined to fix that.

 

“Someone’s been knocking on the door…” she slowly whispered.

 

I rolled over to face the door, only to hear a knock coming from the other side. I yawned, kissing Elysa sweetly one more time before rolling out of the bed. I looked through the peep hole and saw Niall, so I opened the door.

 

“Mate, I’ve been knocking for hours.” I turned to look at Elysa who pretended to be asleep again, or maybe she wasn’t pretending, I wasn’t sure.

 

Niall walked in and sat on the couch in the living room area. The suite was big, but still small enough that I was sure Elysa could have heard us talking if she was awake.

 

“So what’s going on with her?” Niall motioned to the bedroom, I’m sure he was assuming that she was asleep as we could both hear her deep breaths. I finally came to admit to myself that she was, in fact, passed out again.

 

“She’s just got some self esteem issues is all.” I looked away. I couldn’t look Niall in the eyes while admitting that something was wrong with Elysa.

 

“So does every girl, mate,” he said rather casually.

 

“But every girl isn’t the girl of dreams!” I whisper shouted back at him. It took him by surprise for a moment. There was silence before I saw the gears in his mind turning, ready to change the topic.

 

“I met this girl today. When we were at the park. She’s a fan, but she didn’t freak out. Reminds me a bit of Elysa actually. She’s shy, and pretty, and a little young. Her name is Reily.” He blushed and smiled as he told me this, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

 

“British name, eh mate?” I teased him a bit, and only blushed more. Niall was so adorable, I was so happy he had found a girl that he was interested in.

 

“I gave her a VIP ticket to the show tomorrow. That’s what you did with Elysa, right?” He looked worried, as if he could make a mistake.

 

“Sort of, mate,” I smiled and patted his back. “Go talk to her more, get out of here!” I ushered him out, thinking I might have heard Elysa start to stir in the other room.

 

Elysa’s POV

I heard the door open and close, and knew that I could stop faking my sleep. Liam walked in and I smiled at him mischievously, telling me that I had heard what Niall told him. He stuck his tongue out at me and sat down on the bed, wrapping an arm around me. I giggled.

 

“So what did you want to tell me?” I asked him honestly. It had been killing ever since we left the park.

 

“Oh yeah,” he said, as he popped up. He put on a sweet yet slightly cheeky smile on his face. “You know I don’t actually sing to you that often?” he asked me. I nodded my head. He smiled back at me cheekily as he walked over to his computer and lifted the top of it up. Now I was confused.

 

“What are you-“

 

“Shhh!” he cut me off. I obliged, still confused. He continued on his computer, looking for a video in one of his folders. He turned it towards me, and I saw a guitar that looked like Niall’s. “I had Niall record this for me. I would have him here, but I wanted this to be just the two of us.” I looked at him, still questioningly. Then, out of his mouth came angelic sounds.

 

Much as you blame yourself, you can’t be blamed for the way you feel  
Had no example of a love, that was even remotely real  
How can you understand something that you never had  
Ooh baby if you let me, I can help you out with all of that

Girl let me love you  
And I will love you  
Until you learn to love yourself  
Girl let me love you  
And all your trouble  
Don’t be afraid, girl let me help  
Girl let me love you  
And I will love you  
Until you learn to love yourself  
Girl let me love you  
A heart of numbness, gets brought to life  
I’ll take you there

 

My heart sunk into my chest and the tears started to roll down my face. He stopped, pausing the music from his computer.

 

He rushed back to the bed and sat beside me with his arms around me, rubbing my back. “Shh…baby. Don’t cry. I love you, and I’m going to teach you how to love yourself, ok?”

 

I smiled and turned to the boy holding me in his arms. I couldn’t get any words out, so instead, I kissed him sweetly. I tried to pull away, but Liam kept me close, kept kissing me. It was magical. I could tell what he was trying to do though, and I stubbornly pulled back.

 

“I can’t do this Liam. Not now anyway.”

 

He looked sad, and I watched him take a deep breath. “Ok, we’ll try again later. But I really do love you, Elysa.” I smiled and kissed him sweetly one more time before wrapping myself in the warm blankets.


	14. London

Elysa’s POV

I awoke, instantly feeling myself entangled in Liam’s arms. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Last night Liam had shown me how he felt in more ways than one, and reflecting on it only brought me more joy that I was able to call this boy mine.

I yawned and rubbed open my eyes. I could tell by the rate of his breathing that Liam had already woken up. I turned my head a bit so I could try and look at him and smiled. He returned the favor, kissing me sweetly on the head.

“Good morning love,” He whispered into my ears.

I rolled over so that I was resting my head on the warm spot on his chest before echoing him with, “good morning.”

Everything was perfect, everything was wonderful. I wish that moment could have lasted for ever. But we heard a knock on the door and we both let out a loud sigh. Liam got up slowly, kissing my head again for good measure, then walking towards the door. The knock continued quickly and frantically, and I sat up, beginning to become worried. But when Liam opened the door, it was only Niall and Louis.

They came rushing in past Liam, completely ignoring my presence and continuing on their own previous conversation as if they had not just knocked repeatedly on our door and then barged in.

“Niall…?” Liam was trying to get his attention.”Niall…Niall!” Finally the blond boy turned and looked over Liam. But it was as if his breath was caught and Louis had to speak for him.

“You don’t remember anything Paul told you yesterday, do you?” Liam’s face stayed blank. I was worried that was I was about to hear would be bad, so I stayed silent, almost trying not to breathe. But it didn’t work, Louis looked right over at me. “You’re going to ruin things for her!” Now I was scared.

“What did he say?” It was as if Liam hadn’t even gone to that meeting at all.

“He told us that if she didn’t find a tutor soon, she would have to leave. Her running to that park yesterday was horrible for management and they are pissed as hell!” Clearly Louis was angry too.

At that moment, Harry carefully opened the door that Liam had conveniently left ajar. He looked over at me and smiled. “Are you telling her?”

“I’m trying…” Louis scowled. Now I was really confused.

Niall piped in finally. “Louis went the furthest of all of us in school, and we reckon he’d make a good tutor while Elysa is on tour with us.”

It was silent as all eyes fell on me. A smile slowly erupted on my face. Of course I would love to have Louis as my tutor. He was already one of my best friends. When I nodded my head slowly, the boys all took it as an invitation to jump onto the bed with me. I couldn’t help but groan under all the weight of the four boys in the room. Then in came Zayn, not wanting to be left out.

All of a sudden, I felt the weight on top of me move. “What time is it?” Liam looked at his watch and then to the other boys, then back to me with a sympathetic look. “Babe, we have to get ready for the sound check.”

The other four boys left the room as Liam helped me pick out what to wear for that day. I was horrible at fashion, and he definitely knew that. He picked out a pair of skinny jeans that I had only worn once before, and a pink flowy top.

“I don’t like this Liam. The pants are too tight and the pink makes my face look weir-“ he cut me off with a kiss.

“You look perfect love, ok? We can go shopping on my next day off and get you something you are more comfortable in. But you look lovely.” I blushed as I turned around, walking back towards my things to find my favorite flips flops. “Don’t you want to wear to the shoes I picked out for you?” Liam asked honestly.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Liam, I don’t even want to be wearing shoes at all, you know that!”

He shrugged and agreed as he pulled me in close from behind. His arms wrapped around my stomach and I tried to wiggle out of them.

“Shh, no babe. You are perfect.” I didn’t want his hands there, it made me feel so self conscious. Then he dropped his face onto my shoulder and I turned my face to his and looked into his eyes.

“Ok” I sighed, as he kissed me sweetly. I blushed again before Liam released me and led me out of the room.

Liam’s POV

We made it to the venue and I could still see how uncomfortable Elysa was feeling in the outfit that I had picked out for her. I felt badly for making her go out of her comfort zone, but I couldn’t help it. She had asked me for fashion advice, and there was no denying that she looked amazing. I could just stare at her for hours if I wanted to. And I did want to, but I couldn’t.

The lads and I were on stage doing a sound check for a while, Elysa being the only person out in the audience area. The five of us played and spoke directly to her as we practiced and ran through the show and all of the equipment. I kept trying to get her to stand up and dance with the music, but I could tell that she felt a bit awkward. I smiled lovingly to her, as that was all I could do from the stage.

But sooner or later, Paul came and interrupted us, letting us know that we were done with the sound check and wanted for interviews. Elysa walked up to me with her arms wrapped around her stomach, trying to hide herself. I took her in my arms and kissed her forehead lightly, reminding her that I loved her. Paul led the lads and I to a room with reporters, and signaled for Elysa to head back stage.

Elysa’s POV

I walked back stage with my arms still around my stomach, I was trying to hide myself from anyone who could see any part of me. I didn’t even care if Liam said that I looked good, I felt exposed. Every time I turned around I could swear someone was staring at my butt, and when I bent over I felt as if my boobs were going to fall out of my shirt.

I finally made it to a room that held the same red couch that I had sat on back stage when Liam first gave me a VIP ticket to the surprise show in California. I sat down on it, reminiscing not only of that show, but the moments I shared on another similar couch with Gemma soon after.

I was so entranced by my memories that I didn’t even notice when three girls walked through the door. Two of them came and sat down next to me, and that’s when I realized that it was Ruth and Nicola. I hadn’t seen much of them since the last time I was in London with Liam and we threw him a surprise party together. They both greeted me with smiles and hugs. But the third girl stood across from us, holding her arm, unsure of what to do.

“Hi, I’m Elysa,” I reached out my hand to shake with hers. The girl smiled, revealing her pearly white teeth that had been hidden so well within her freckled face.

“I’m Reily,” she told me. Reily had bright green eyes that shone through her strawberry blonde hair that was covering her face. She pushed it back behind her ears to reveal her innocent demeanor, and I invited her to sit down with us.

“So, how’d you get the VIP ticket?”

“I…umm…” She looked off in every direction besides my own before finally answering. “Niall gave it to me yesterday…” I suddenly remembered the conversation that Liam had with Niall while they both thought I was asleep yesterday and smiled.

“He really likes you, you know.” I told her. I think she may have blushed, but it was difficult to see through her freckles and nearly burnt skin. It reminded me of that surprise show when I was sitting backstage and Niall said the exact same thing to me about Liam. I guess it was all I could do to return the favor.

The four of us sat and talked for a while about all things One Direction. Reily was more than excited to even be at the concert, let alone back stage, let alone with Ruth and Nicola, and apparently meeting me was a thing as well.

Liam’s POV

Our interviews went slowly. All I could think about was Elysa and how she was doing. I knew she felt uncomfortable, and I could only hope that when Ruth and Nicola got there things would get better. But there really was no saying what would happen. Elysa hadn’t spent much time with my sisters, and I could only hope that they wouldn’t pry to much.

As we finished up our last interview, I turned to Niall. He had started walking back down the hall quicker than usual, and that’s when I remembered that he had given a ticket to a fan the other day. I think her name was Reily. I saw the look on his face and it reminded me of the day I first met Elysa backstage.

I grabbed onto Niall’s arm before he could dart too far ahead of me. “Take a breath,” I reminded him. He did as he was told and nodded his head before walking off again, standing tall.

I followed him into the backstage area to see my sisters, Elysa, and a girl who I assumed to be Reily, sitting on the red couch and laughing together. I couldn’t help but sit back and smile. Niall on the other hand, ran up to the girl as fast as he could before stammering to her. They hugged and both looked quite embarrassed before he showed her off to other parts of the back stage.

I went over to the girls and greeted my sisters who I hadn’t seen in a while. “You’re tickets are right up front.”

“Awh, why don’t you give those to a fan?” Ruth asked me.

“I did,” I winked at Elysa, which made her blush. “And Reily is sitting with you too.” They all looked happy when I told them, but Reily and Niall were now nowhere to be found. “Wanna go to your seats?” They nodded and I hugged each of my sisters again, kissed Elysa on her head, and let Paul lead them out to the stage area.


	15. Ireland

Elysa’s POV

I was beginning to get the hang of the daily tour routine. I would do some work with Louis in the morning, then the boys would head off to the venue. While they did sound check I usually opted to stay at the hotel and get a little bit more work done. Then management would drive me to the venue where I would be faced with countless screaming girls. Once inside, my headache would slowly fade as I smiled just because I got to spend that time with Liam. After the first few England shows, I usually chose to stay backstage and give my ticket away to a fan. After the show, the boys would sign some autographs and take some pictures, and we would head back to the hotel, collapsing the moment we made it to our rooms.

It was a busy life, and very different from what I was used to. But in any moment that I felt doubt, I would remember why I was there. I was there because the boy I loved found a way to be with me even while travelling the world.

After finishing more of my schoolwork that I even thought I could, it was time to head to the venue in Ireland. I’m not sure where we were, but it was beautiful and Niall couldn’t get a smile off of his face. The show flew by as I sat backstage with management.

Liam’s POV

The show was amazing. It was probably the best audience we’ve ever had. The lads and I ran off the stage with giant smiles on our faces. I ran right to Elysa and kissed her hard because I was so purely excited.

“I know this GREAT pub,” Niall told us. Everyone got really excited, but when I turned to face Elysa I noticed her face had dropped.

“You lads go, Elysa and I will do something else.” They looked a bit upset at first, but I had to remind them that she was too young to drink.

“Mate, drinking age doesn’t even matter here, it’s Ireland!”

I looked over at Elysa, but I already knew what her answer would be. She was too responsible and sensible to go out and get drunk with us just because we were in Ireland. She always told me that if she couldn’t do it legally at home, she didn’t want to do it legally here.

The boys moved on from the conversation rather quickly as they headed into a separate room to change into their normal clothes. “You didn’t have to do that Liam, you can go with the boys if you want.”

“No Ely, I would rather spend the time with you anyway,” I said, kissing her softly. She giggled and blushed into my lips but I didn’t stop as quickly as usual. “I love you,” I whispered into her lips as I slowly pulled away.

“Go change,” she giggled, pointing in the direction that the other lads had gone in. I smiled and followed her instructions as I followed in the path of my four best friends.

When I got into the dressing room the atmosphere was identical to that of the stage we had just left. The lads were laughing and screaming at each other, throwing random articles of clothing at strange targets. It looked like a scene out of a children’s movie about summer camp.

I stripped out of my clothes quickly before looking for the sweats and jumper that I brought to wear after the show. “Hold on Liam, Elysa isn’t even in here right now!” Louis mocked me. I stuck my tongue out at him. Elysa and I still had not done much more than kiss in the past few weeks, even when I told her time and time again that she was beautiful. Her voice echoed in my head as I thought about her crying over something that I was trying so hard to help fix, but just couldn’t.

“What’s the matter mate? Ely not putting out anymore?” Zayn giggled as he continued to change, but my eyes began to water.

“Zayn, I think we should stop,” Niall tried to whisper to him. But I was already upset.

I put my own clothes on and packed up my small bag that I had brought with me to the venue and walked back where I had come from. When I saw Elysa, she immediately saw the look on my face, and ran up to hug me.

“Are you ok Liam?” she whispered as she backed off from the hug just a bit. I nodded my head to tell her yes, but my eyes must have told her no, because she hugged me once more, placing her head in the very center of my chest. “I love you Liam,” she told me sweetly. I backed off of her and wiped away where tears were starting to form in my eyes.

“I have a surprise for you tonight, love.” She looked confused, but I was excited.

The moment we got back to the hotel I ushered to our room. “You’ll want to put on some warm clothes, and maybe even socks, love.” She groaned at the idea of trapping her feat in even a thin piece of fabric, but eventually obliged. “And grab that blanket, will you love?”

Elysa’s POV

I was confused as to what sort of surprise Liam had up his sleeve, but I trusted him wholeheartedly and followed his instructions. Once I had changed into warm clothes and even a pair of socks, I grabbed a hotel blanket that he had pointed to and stood in front of him, waiting for my next instruction or clue as to what he had planned.

“Follow me.” He took my hand in his larger, warmer ones and led me outside of our room and into the elevator.

“Where are we going?” but he wouldn’t answer. I whined and complained and begged for at least a hint, but the boy was almost as stubborn as I was. The elevator door opened at the top floor of the hotel and he led me down the hall. We came to a door with a drawing of stairs behind it, and this time I stood my ground. “I am not walking up stairs, Liam.”

He shrugged and grabbed me, carrying me in his arms as he walked up two flights of stairs before reaching a door. Liam slowly pushed it open in front of us as I was caught in the shock of the cold night air.

We walked across the roof to where containers of dirt must have once held a beautiful rooftop garden, and he set me down on my feet. I smiled and kissed him, amazed that he would have even managed to find this place. We spread out the blanket and laid down next to each other, staring up at the stars.

“Why did you take me here, Liam?” I asked him after a few minutes of taking in night sky and noises around us.

“Because I love you. And you love adventure.” He smiled at looked over at me before planting a sweet kiss on my lips.

I curled up into the boy next to me, placing my head on the warm spot of his chest that I had come so accustomed to in the past few months. Continuing to look up at the beautiful night sky dotted with stars, I couldn’t help but think about everything that had happened to me since I met Liam.

“Liam?” I whispered, unsure of his actual state of consciousness. He grunted a bit to let me know he was listening and I continued. “What do you think about when you look at the stars?”

There was a moment of silence. I expected that. It was a loaded question. But when Liam opened his mouth, it was as if he couldn’t be stopped.

“I think every star represents a moment in someone’s life. A good moment maybe, or a bad one, but a moment. Something worth remembering. When I was little, Ruth told me that the bigger the star was, the more important the memory. We were camping in our backyard when she told me that, and ever since I’ve believed it. Every time something worth remembering happens, I look up at the stars and chose one.” He was silent for only a moment. “Nicola told me that was stupid.” I giggled. “What about you?”

“I guess…I guess I think about it the same way. I’ve just never really been able to put it into words before. When I was looking at the stars just now, I thought about Sam, and I thought about my parents, and I thought about Zach, and I even thought about Sage. All the moment with those people that changed my life in some way. And now I guess I’m still trying to figure out which star reminds me most of you.”

I could feel his heavy, slowing breath through his chest. No words were needed in this moment any longer, we both knew what the other was feeling. A gust of wind blew through my hair and I shivered, snuggling in even closer with Liam. He put his arms around me and held me in tight, trying his best to keep me warm.

“I love you Elysa. I really do. And one of those stars up there is a bad memory. It’s the memory of every time you’ve ever cried. I don’t like it when that happens Ely.” I felt weak at his words. I never meant to hurt someone else with my own feelings.

“I’m so sorry Liam.”

“Don’t be,” he told me sweetly, kissing my head. “Don’t be sorry, be silly. You’re a strong girl and it hurts me when you let little things get to you.” I turned up to look at him and he kissed me sweetly. “Come on, it’s cold out here,” he said, before sitting up and taking me in his arms once more to head down the stairs.

“Are you sure I’m not too heavy?”

He let out a disappointed sigh. “Don’t say these things Elysa. If you were too heavy, I wouldn’t be carrying you, would i?”

“I guess not.” He was right.

I held onto him tighter as I nuzzled my head into his neck, trying to save all the warmth we each had to offer. Even after we got down the stairs, and into the elevator, he continued to hold me. He carried me all the way back to the room and managed to open the door without dropping me. He carefully placed me on the bed and sat down beside me.

I stared up into his eyes. I knew what he wanted to do, but I just wasn’t sure I could let myself go right then. He leaned in to kiss me deeply, and I allowed him to, but the moment I felt his hands exploring my body I pulled away.

“Babe, don’t do that.” He told me. But I gave him the worried and insecure look that I was getting so good at making. “Ok Ely. Maybe tomorrow?” he asked me. I shook my head timidly. Maybe he was right, maybe there was nothing to be insecure about. But I was insecure, and didn’t want to let my body go at that moment.

I lifted the blankets up over our bodies as Liam cuddled in close with me. I let him hold me tight as we each drifted off into sleep


	16. Australian Adventures

Elysa’s POV

We woke up the next morning in Ireland still, but I fell asleep in the car after packing up our stuff and the next thing I remember is arriving in Australia. I must have slept for hours on the plane ride getting here. The constant travel had begun to wear me out. Although I never in my life would have been able to see the places that I was now complaining about going to.

Still groggy, I walked off the plane, almost forgetting my small carry-on bag. Luckily, Liam remembered it and handed it to me. I smiled at him, thanking him, and he took my hand in his as we made our way through the terminal. 

“I’m so tired, Liam,” I whispered to him as we walked through some paparazzi.

“It’s ok Ely; we can sleep as soon as we get to the hotel.” I didn’t want to sleep though; I wanted to go on an adventure. We were in Australia and sleeping felt like such a waste.

“Buy me some caffeine? Please?” He smiled and chucked as I begged him sweetly. We passed by a Starbucks stand in the airport and I nudged him again.

“Can you wait until we get to the hotel?” I sighed and agreed.

We walked all too slowly to the car, but the moment all six of us were inside it began to move. I was resting my head lazily on Liam’s chest, trying hard not to let the movement of the vehicle lull me to sleep when I heard Louis’ voice.

“Ok. So I have a plan for today,” He said cheerfully. I looked over to Liam, who was just as skeptical as I was. “We’re in Australia, so we are going to go surfing. Even you Ely, we’re all learning, deal?” The boys looked around at each other in agreement, even Liam agreed to the idea.

“Fine, but only if we can stop at Starbucks first!” I bargained to him. He laughed, but we made our way there.

Liam’s POV

To be honest, I was glad that Louis had come up with this plan for the day. Maybe after a day of fun, Elysa would loosen up. She kept trying to stop me when I wanted to do anything further than just kissing her, but I was determined to change that. I loved her too much to not be able to show her in every way possible. Not only that, but her constant stress was worrying me. I wanted her to be having fun on this trip, not worrying about anything that might be going wrong back home, or here, or anywhere.

By the time we got to the beach, Elysa was all hyped up on caffeine. It was hilarious to be honest. She seemed so much happier than the night before, and it honestly got my hopes up. Although she had preemptively told me that she was insisting on wearing an extra T-shirt over her bathing suit, the surfing instructor had us all wear full body suits.

“It’s so tight Liam…” she said worriedly. I had to agree, it was tight and I could see every inch of her body. It was amazing. It just made me want her even more, as if that was even possible.

“It’s ok love, you look…amazing.” She blushed at my words that had somehow given her a tiny burst of confidence as we took to the water.

Just watching her run down the beach sent the blood flowing strangely through my body. I noticed quickly and followed her, hoping the water would cover me up from any embarrassment. I couldn’t help it though. She was such a beautiful girl, and in that skin tight suit…my mind went wild.

As for the surfing itself, Elysa was a natural. Our instructor explained things very well and she got up on the first small wave we saw. Zayn, Louis and Niall weren’t nearly as good as she was. I sat back and watched as she had a giant smile spread across her face. While three of the boys constantly plummeted into the ocean, Harry sat on his board beside me and Elysa showed us all how it was supposed to be done.

“Come on Liam! It’s not that hard!” She called to me from atop her board while riding the biggest wave she had been able to catch so far.

“You’re only saying that because you’re from California!” I teased her, even though I knew she lived nowhere near the beach. She stuck her tongue out at me and I laughed to Harry who was watching her beside me still.

“She’s so fit, mate,” he whispered to me, once she was a safe distance down. I couldn’t help but get a bit jealous after what had happened when we were at her house. But I had to remind myself of what he told me back then. If Harry had said she wasn’t fit, I would be even more mad.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“She putting out now?” he asked. I was slightly appalled that he would ask so upfront. Then again, it was Harry, the cheekiest boy I had ever met in my entire life.

“Not really, but that’s ok. I don’t want to push her. I just wish I could keep showing her how much I love her…” I trailed off at the end as Harry giggled.

“Ugh, why are you the perfect boyfriend Liam?” he commented. I sneered, knowing there was no way this was true. I was constantly worried about Harry, and even Zach, falling for her. Because she was dating me, she wasn’t able to go to normal school, and I was just as worried about her education as she was. There was no way you could call me the perfect boyfriend.

Just then, Elysa wiped out on a wave, screaming. She didn’t scream often, so I knew something was immediately wrong. I shouted at the lads to help me get to her. She had already washed up onto the beach and I could hear my heart beating faster than normal.

“ELYSA!” I shouted as I ran up to her.

She shifted a little bit, and her eyes fluttered open. “I’m ok Liam,” she said with a little chuckle. “I’m not that good at this surfing thing.” She continued laugh, but I was still worried.

“We’re going back to the hotel now,” I decided. Elysa looked upset and refused to move, so I picked her up and carried her back to where we had rented the surfboards and body suits from. I put her back down on her feet and kissed her sweetly on the lips. “Just stop scaring me, ok?” she nodded her head and giggled as she went into a small room to change.

Elysa’s POV

Honestly, I think I may have hurt my leg pretty badly, but I didn’t want to get in the way of the boys’ tour, so I just sort of sucked it up. I changed slowly out of my body suit in the small room, being careful not to put too much weight on the sore leg. I bit my lip to keep from screaming in pain.

I heard a knock at the door. “Elysa, are you ok?” Liam asked me. I smiled, he cared about me so much, I had to remember not to take it for granted.

“Yes, I’m..ow…fine,” I lied through my teeth, and I was horrible at it.

“Let me come in for a second Ely.”

I assumed he was just trying to make sure I was ok, so I tried to talk him out of it. “I’m not dressed yet, hang on.” I could see his bouncing leg under the door signaling that he was inpatient and quickened my pace. “ok,” I said, as I unlocked the door. I opened it, while still standing behind it so that no one else could see me. I still wanted to put on another layer of clothing before walking outside.

When I closed the door behind Liam, his face told me everything that he was thinking. Before I had a chance to say anything his lips crashed down onto mine. They worked together in perfect sync, as always, and I smiled before pulling away.

“Why are you doing this now?” I asked him honestly.

“Because,” he started, his eyes filled with lust and love, “I love you.” I smiled and continued to kiss him, but I knew we couldn’t go any further, not here, not now.

“We can’t do this here Liam,” I giggled as I pushed him away and reached for my jacket.

He rolled his eyes out of pain but agreement and understanding as well. Being the sensible boy that he was, he understood that we couldn’t do this in public. After I had gotten all of my clothes back on, even put on a pair of shoes, he opened the dressing room door. Harry was standing right outside, staring at us.

“Bow chicka bow wow” he teased. I rolled me eyes and Liam hit him playfully on the arm.

I took a few steps towards the door of the small shop but I had to stop. My leg was in far too much pain.

“Are you ok babe?” Liam asked me. I nodded my head while biting down hard on my lip. I was determined not to let anything I did get in the way of his tour.

“No you aren’t. Ely, did you hurt your leg when you fell back there?” Louis asked me from a few feet away. I shook my head no, but my eyes and body clearly told him yes.

“You’re going to the doctor,” Liam said, as he bent down to pick me up.

“No, I can’t do anything to change your schedule. I don’t want to get in the way of the tour!!!” I whined at all of the boys. But it was no use, they were all in agreement that I was too damaged to ignore. “Can we at least wait until after the show tonight? I don’t want y’all to end up being late.”

Liam looked over at the other boys and they reluctantly agreed, while simultaneously chuckling at my use of the word ‘y’all’.

“But the moment we get off the stage, we’re taking you to the hospital.” Liam stood his ground firmly, and agreed. All I would have to do now was fake my way through the evening. This leg would heal itself.


	17. Australian Nights

Liam’s POV

The crowd in Australia was amazing. There was so much energy while we were on stage, the show could not have gone better if I wanted it to. Except for the fact that my mind was not really on stage, but off stage with Elysa and her hurt leg. I knew she didn’t want to be a burden on us and the tour, but the lads and I were sincerely worried about her.

The last song of the show ended and we ran off the stage. I went straight to where I knew Elysa would be sitting and kissed her quickly on the lips before looking into her eyes. I helped her stand up and immediately knew that she was in pain.

“Ely, we’re taking you to the hospital,” I told her softly, still looking into her eyes. But she looked away from me, taking a deep breath.

“No Liam, really, I’m fine.” I didn’t want to believe her, I couldn’t believe her, but I had to believe her. “If it still hurts in a few days we can go. But I promise I’m fine.” I could see her eyes and the way that she was biting her lip that she was lying through her teeth, but I had no proof.

“The second it starts hurting again, we go to the hospital, ok?”

“ok,” she responded, with a smile. We both knew that she had just faked her way out of going to the hospital tonight. I kissed her one more time before returning to the dressing room with the rest of the lads.

Elysa’s POV

As Liam ran down the hall, I knew I had done it. I had successfully faked my way out of going to the hospital tonight. I didn’t want to get in their way. I should not have any effect on the tour what so ever, and I was completely adamant about that.

I took a deep breath as I sat down, the pain in my shin slowly subsiding as the weight was released from it. Just then, Paul walked over to me, looking slightly worried.

“Elysa, do you have a hospital preference?” he asked me. I took a deep breath before answering him.

“I just talked to Liam. My leg feels totally fine now. If it hurts again I’ll let y’all know.” I put a smile on my face, trying to fake my way through one more attempt to get me to the doctor.

Paul went down on his knees in front of me and took my hand in his. He took a deep breath before looking up at me and speaking softly. “I know you don’t want to get in the way. But you being on this tour means that you are my responsibility. I can’t make you go to the hospital now, but know that it would not get in the boys’ way, ok?”

I looked at him and nodded to let him know I had understood. I decided then that if I was to go to the hospital, I would talk to Paul about it first, not Liam or the other boys. He understood that I didn’t want to get in the way.

After that, the boys came out of their dressing room, wearing the comfortable clothing that they had arrived in. I smiled at all of them, they were radiating with that special “after concert glow” that I had begun to recognize. It made all of the boys look so beautiful and amazing in every single way.

Liam took my hand in his and we walked out back to the car. I squeezed him a little harder that usual to cope with the pain in my leg, but I tried to pass it off as a sign of affection. This continued once we arrived at the hotel and had to walk through it to get to our room. But when we were finally there, went straight to sit on the bed.

“Ugh, I have to take this bra off…” I complained to myself, out loud. Liam chuckled at my bluntness and came to sit next to me.

“Listen Ely,” he started, “I know you’ve been feeling…insecure…” I looked away from him. I knew where this conversation was going. “I just really don’t want you to, love. And I want to be able to continue showing you how much I love you, and the physical stuff is part of that.” I still refused to look him in the eyes, but he took the initiative to tilt my chin up to face him.

The moment our eyes were connected, mine began to water. “I just can’t Liam.” I told him.

“Yes you can,” he whispered before sweetly kissing me. “I’ll help you and everything will be ok.” I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes again. They were comforting and calming, but also showed what his intentions were going to be.

“Ok…” I breathed quietly.

Liam smiled and kissed me again, and again, and again. He was being sweet even though we both knew where this was going.

“You said you wanted to take that bra off?” he asked me while his lips were still nearly touching mine. I nodded my head. “I’ll help you with that, too.”

His hands reached around my back and he swiftly unclasped my bra. I shook, feeling a bit revealed, even though I was still wearing my shirt. He kissed me again and whispered that he loved me, and I loosened up a bit.

Our lips crashed down onto each other’s quickly after that. I felt the fireworks go off in my mind that told me what we were doing was right. I smiled into his lips and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into my mouth. He moved it around skillfully as I moved my hands up and down his toned torso. He took that as a signal and while only breaking our contact for a second removed his shirt.

I looked at his chest and just marveled at it before I would let his lips reconnect with mine. He smiled, proud of himself that he was able to make me feel this way. As his lips once again pressed to mine, he used his hand in the small of my back to lay us down on the bed. I smiled again, and so did he.

The moment was amazing. I was ready to let myself go completely. I realized what he meant once again about showing me how much he loved me. I felt so safe in his gentle hands, so loved, and so in love with his own body. It was almost a better feeling than what I had felt the first time, back on his couch in London.

Liam slid his hands up under my shirt and began to remove it. I held my breath as he lifted it over my head, taking the loose bra with it. He could see that I was a bit nervous, and tried to help by kissing my lips sweetly again. I looked into his eyes lovingly to let him know that it had helped.

He dipped his head down to my breasts and began to kiss them. I giggled at the unusual feeling of contact on the sensitive skin, but he pursued. Eventually, the feeling no longer merited a giggle, but a moan. I bit my lip, trying hard not to let it out, but Liam noticed.

“It’s ok Ely, let it out. Tell me what you think,” he said, breathing air onto my now hard nipples. He began sucking and kissing again, and this time I relaxed and let the pleasure come out in the form of a moan. I could feel him smile into my soft skin and I giggled, intertwining my fingers with his beautiful brown hair.

When Liam felt that he had completed his task, he began to kiss down my abdomen. Before reaching the waistband of my leggings, he looked up at me.

“Oh,” I said, realizing that I should probably find a way to reciprocate any pleasure that he was giving me. “do you want me to…?”

“No,” he chuckled a bit, “I just wanted to make sure it was ok to keep going.”

I smiled down at him and bit my lip while nodding for him to continue. He kissed above the elastic of my leggings before beginning to pull them down. I smiled at him, knowing what was soon to come. The cold air hit my skin and sent a chill down my spine, my movement causing Liam to smile.

He breathed hot air through my panties that had quickly become soaked, and began to separate my legs. My shiver this time was a combination of pleasure and pain, as my shin began to feel pressure on it. Liam didn’t notice the pain, only the pleasure and continued rubbing from outside of the thin cloth.

He slowly hooked his fingers inside of the elastic strip of my panties and began to pull them down. But when they reached my shins, he stopped. I swallowed hard, realizing there must be a bruise of some sort that he was seeing. And I knew I was right when he softly touched the sore spot, effectively sending a sharp pain through my body.

My eyes began to water and he looked up, knowing that I was lying before. “Elysa, we’re going to the hospital,” he said definitively. I nodded my head, still biting my lip out of pain. “I’ll get you some fresh clothes.”

Liam walked to where my suitcase had already been made a mess and picked out comfortable clothes for me to wear. He walked back over and helped me put on the new pair of underwear and sweats, and handed me a sports bra and t-shirt.

“I just gotta use the bathroom real quick, text Harry, would ya?” I knew what he was doing in the bathroom, probably taking care of some business to finish off what he had started. I felt bad, knowing that he wanted this for so long and now that I was ok with it I was too injured to provide it to him. Still, I slipped on the sports bra and t-shirt and texted Harry.

Liam is taking me to the hospital. He said I should let you know. 

Just as Liam exited the bathroom, I heard a knock at the door. He went over and opened it to find all the boys and Paul. I immediately felt guilty for probably getting all of them out of bed, but when the boys sat down on the bed next to me and smiled comfortingly, I knew that they had probably been awake this entire time anyway.

As Liam and Louis were helping move me to the end of the bed so that Liam could carry me down the car, I noticed a look on Harry’s face. I swiftly became embarrassed as I knew the face meant that he had probably smelled mine and Liam’s sent in the air from just moments before they walked through the door. I looked at him in a way to tell him not to say anything, and surprisingly, he understood.

When we got to the car, Paul began to ask what insurance I had. Luckily, before I could say anything about the state of my custody, Liam chimed in, telling him to take me where he would take him. I looked at Liam, both thanking him for speaking up and feeling badly that he was probably going to be paying for these hospital costs. He pulled me in closer to him, stroking my arm to relax me.

I was surprised at how in the hospital we were assigned a room almost immediately. Other times I had been in the emergency room we had to wait for one to open up, but I guess that was the benefit of being with a celebrity who could cause chaos in a place that really wasn’t suited for it. They gave me a wheel chair and Liam pushed me down a hall that smelled of anti-septic before finally turning into a small room with pumpkin decorations.

“It’s because I’m not 18 yet, isn’t it?” I asked the nurse who led us to the room. She nodded her head and chuckled a bit.

“Still pediatrics, I’m sorry to say,” she said in her Australian accent.

She stood in the doorway as Liam and Louis lifted me out of the chair. Niall pulled back the blankets on the hospital bed and I was placed down. I took a deep breath, taking in my surroundings and the fact that this tiny room was now filled with 8 people.

“Another nurse will be in shortly to ask you some questions. You will probably need an x-ray.” She turned to the boys and Paul before continuing, “Now usually we don’t allow friends, only family.” Liam and Paul got up and stopped her right there, leading her out of the door to explain my situation a little more clearly.

The other boys stayed in the room with me while they spoke. It was silent and awkward, as they really didn’t fully understand my family situation like Liam, and apparently Paul, did. They looked towards me with some pity, and I playfully told them to stop before the door opened again, and Liam and Paul returned.

“So she said we could stay,” Liam began to explain, “but it’s a small room so she recommended that some of us sit in the little room down the hall with chairs.” The boys all looked around at each other, clearly not wanting to move.

“I think we’ll all be cozy in here,” Louis finally answered. I giggled, thanking the boys.

The rest of that night was a blur. I would drift off to sleep only to be awoken by a nurse or doctor asking me the same few sets of questions. The boys were in various stages of alertness as well, except for Liam who always seemed to be completely conscious when my eyes were opened. They took an x-ray of my leg, but I even fell asleep during that. The last thing I remember was a nurse pushing my chair into a room on a different floor, explaining that they wanted me to sleep and rest.


	18. Departure and Arrival

Liam’s POV

I sat impatiently as doctors and nurses walked in and out of the small hospital room this morning. They came accustomed to asking me if she had woken up at all yet, and I had come accustomed to answering them negatively. The other boys and Paul had fallen asleep some time ago, leaving me alone in a room full of bodies. Occasionally the doctor or nurse would ask if some random relative was allowed to come see Elysa, but we both knew it was just a paparazzo trying to sneak in.

Just as I was finally allowing my eye lids to droop after being awake for at least two full days, I noticed Elysa’s flutter open. She looked around at the sleeping boys around her with an expressionless face before finally making eye contact with me and smiling. I walked over and placed a small kiss on her lips.

“Am I ok?” She asked me in a whisper. I responded similarly letting her know that they wouldn’t actually tell me anything until she was awake since I had no legal relationship with her. They wouldn’t even talk to Paul. “So get them and ask,” she ordered me impatiently. I smiled as I opened up the door and told the first nurse I saw that she had finally awoken.

I walked back into the room to see Ely slowly sitting up and noticing the soft cast that had been placed on her lower leg. I stayed silent for a moment to allow for her to investigate it herself, but she soon looked up at me, waiting for an explanation. I shrugged, as I really didn’t have much information to share with her.

“They put that on you a few hours after your x-rays last night, but they didn’t tell me anything,” I informed her. I hadn’t been trying to muffle my voice anymore, and some of the lads began to stir.

I saw as Louis’ eyes began to open and his infectious smile spread to Ely. She looked back to me and I made my way over to her bed, sitting on the edge of it and putting my arm somewhat around her.

“How late were you up, Lou?” She asked him from the bed. He chuckled to himself, looking up at the clock.

“Not sure, maybe got three or four hours of sleep?”

The other lads began to rise as their cloudy eyes filled the room. Harry shook Paul awake and everyone readied themselves to hear the news from a doctor. When one finally walked into the small room, it was silent.

She walked over to the bed and took my seat so she could speak directly to Elysa. “We reviewed your x-rays last night and found that you only bruised your right tibia. We’ve given you this soft cast. Normally I would require you to stay here for at least one more night, but I understand you are in a very unique situation, so we are going to allow you to travel under the condition that you wear this all the time for the next three weeks. After that, you should see a doctor wherever you are for further instruction. It should heal up just fine.” She stopped and looked over at the lads and I, and paused when she made eye contact with Paul. “Who would you like to be in charge of your medical records, since after all you are still a minor?”

Elysa, Paul, and I all shared slightly confused glances with each other. “Could you give us a couple of minutes to figure that out?” she asked the doctor sweetly.

“Of course honey, I’ll come back in with your release papers and you can let me know who should sign them.” And she walked out.

It was silent and awkward. My first thought was that I should sign the papers, but after realizing that it would make me a partial guardian, I decided against it. “I think maybe Paul should sign it? And you might want to at least call Sam to let him know what happened?” I suggested to Elysa. It continued to be silent and awkward, but Paul nodded his head in agreement, and Elysa did not object.

As we sat there, waiting for the doctor to come back with forms, the other lads became more alert and aware of what was going on around them. Their eyes filled back with color as a friendly rumble of conversation finally was introduced.

Elysa’s POV

After the boys helped me in and out of the car, and Liam assisted in packing up my suitcase, we made our way to the airport. The next sets of shows were going to be in America, and I was excited to say the least. This meant familiar accents, food, geography, everything. It even meant driving on the correct side of the road for once.

After arriving in New York, I sat in the car with Liam and the boys on our way to the next hotel. I was totally taken up in Liam’s eyes as our hands were tangled together and the hum of the large car pushed all other thoughts out of my mind.

Until Harry randomly put a thought to words. “Why do you Americans drive on the right side of the road?” And I think that’s when it hit, because that’s when my eyes began to water. I missed driving so much. And although for most people, driving is a chore, for me, it was the one thing that could remind me that I was my own person, because no one else had control of that car besides me. And now that I was finally in America, where I could legally drive, there was a soft cast on my foot.

“How long are we in America for?” I asked Liam.

He thought to himself before answering me. “About a month and half, I believe. Management set up show dates in most of the major cities, I reckon. Why?”

I smiled to myself and responded cheerfully, “Because by the time we get to California, I should be able to drive again!”

The other boys heard and understood my excitement as we pulled up to a fancy hotel. When the car stopped, Paul got out first. He opened the car door allowing Zayn, Harry, and Louis to get out first. The three walked up to the large hotel doors and greeted fans with pictures and autographs. Meanwhile, Niall and Liam grabbed my crutches out of the trunk of the car and helped me out.

I wasn’t very confident on the crutches yet, and barely really knew how to use them. But I insisted on trying to move myself and didn’t want Liam to carry me. I wasn’t helpless, and I wanted to make sure that he, and the rest of the boys, and Paul, and any random fans, knew that.

I finally managed to move myself a few feet forward and Niall walked ahead, following in the same greeting path that the other boys had left. Liam stayed with me, helping me balance on the strange poles that dug into my armpits, and Paul followed slowly behind us.

After confirming to Liam that I was fine, he was finally able to take a breath. It took a while, but we finally made it inside. I sat down on a large comfortable chair in the lobby as the boys checked in. Niall was finished first for some reason, and walked over to keep me company.

“How are ya doin, Ely?” He asked in a thick Irish slur.

“You know, just learning how to walk again, you?” I joked. He laughed at my horrible sense of humor and I continued to talk to him. “How much does Liam talk to y’all about…him and me…and like….”

Niall cut me off, he knew what I was really asking. “Not much. I mean, er, when he had plans, sometimes he tells us. And like, when they don’t…when ya don’t….” This time I stopped him.

“Did he tell you how he convinced me to go to the hospital?” Niall shook his head indicating that he did not. “Oh, well, I’m not sure why I’m telling you this. But we were in bed, and you know how I’ve been really insecure lately?” This time his head nod indicated a positive response. “Well he had kind of helped me get past that. I’m really mad because this got in the way of finally, well, never mind.” I trailed off and focused my attention at Liam, who was making his way from the counter over towards me. “Sorry, you probably didn’t need to know that,” I said to Niall, before trying to get out of the chair.

“No, no,” he told me, as he helped me up by the arm and handed me my crutches, “You can talk to me any time.” I looked into his crystal blue eyes and smiled to thank him as Liam approached us.

“Ready, Ely?” He asked. He started to take my hand like he usually would have before remembering that I needed it to walk now. He put his own back into his pocket as he helped me balance on my one good leg.

“Yup,” I assured him. And with a smile he led me towards the elevator. “Where are our bags?” I usually insisted on carrying my own bag into the hotel. I wasn’t part of the band so I didn’t believe that I should get their treatment and have everything done for me.

“Paul’s taking care of it. He figured you would need help.” I smiled as I accepted the fact that I no longer could do certain things for myself, and followed Liam and Niall to the elevator where the rest of the boys were waiting for us.

“So, anything exciting at the show tonight?” I asked the boys once we were all safely alone in the elevator and away from eves-dropping fans.

“Yeah!” Niall was quick to shout. “Thanks for reminding me actually. I’m gonna tweet asking for fans to send us videos of them singing any song, and the best few, vocal wise, are gonna get tickets and VIP passes.”

 

“That’s an awesome idea,” I smiled. I loved it when the boys came up with ways to thank the fans and give those who would not otherwise have the opportunity to meet them a chance to actually do so. I still felt like one of those fans that would never meet them and constantly reminded myself who and where I really was.


	19. Surprises in New York

Liam’s POV

“No, you look great, I promise Ely.” I smiled as I looked over to the most beautiful girl in the world. I had convinced her to dress nicely for the show tonight. Niall had sort of lied earlier when he told her about the surprise. There was really a competition for the best singing video, but it wasn’t just to meet us. It was to meet us and hang out with her during the show.

“I don’t know, the cast kind of throws it off, don’t ya think?” she asked me. I smiled again as I walked towards Elysa and slowly wrapped my hands around her waist. She didn’t throw them away this time, showing that she didn’t feel as badly about her body as she used to.

I lowered my head onto her shoulder and whispered into her ear, “You could not look more beautiful,” before kissing her sweetly. I could feel her skin becoming hot as she blushed and giggled.

With that, I helped her wobble to the door and handed over the crutches. “You know Liam, we gotta go shopping and see if there’s a way to make these look a little…more…” she trailed off and I chuckled.

“Of course Ely, whatever you want,” I told her before kissing her sweetly again.

Elysa’s POV

“Ok Niall, so how are we choosing the winners?” I asked him as we sat back stage. There was still some time before the show and the boys’ pre show interviews hadn’t started yet, but I didn’t want them to forget about the little contest they had set up.

“We thought you might wanna choose?” he handed me his phone and I scrolled through the top videos that had already been chosen.

“Who chose the top ten?” I asked.

“Management, I think. “ Louis told me with a bit of an eye roll. I sighed, but accepted it as I plugged in my earphones and listened to the amazing talent of the boys’ fans.

I closed my eyes, simply indulging myself in the sounds of music that others my age and younger were able to produce. The first nine were amazing, but honestly difficult to distinguish from one another. But the moment the tenth one started, I opened my eyes. I had to make sure I was hearing what I thought it was.

I pulled a headphone out of my ear and stared at Niall. The look on his face only confirmed what I was thinking. “This one,” I told him, handing the phone back to him.

Louis looked over Niall’s shoulder, curious of who I had chosen. He saw the familiar face as well as gave a look somewhere between a cheeky smirk and confused look. “How did Reily get to New York, mate?” he asked Niall.

Niall only shrugged, honestly unsure. I took the phone back from the blond boy and listened to the end of the recording again. “And I know I’m not actually in New York, I just wanted to see what you thought of my singing. Ok bye!” I sighed at Niall as I played it back for him, and his face dropped again.

“Let’s go with the third one then,” I told the boys, honestly just choosing a random number.

Liam’s POV

The first New York show went amazingly well. The crowds in America were always full of energy, and I think Elysa had a good time with the girl that she had chosen to win the contest. But when the end of the show came, I didn’t run off the stage and into Elysa’s arms as usual, I stood there, the other lads standing behind me and watching hopefully.

”Thank you so much for this amazing show New York!” I screamed it into the microphone and even then it seemed just barely audible to the crowd. “And now, I have a special surprise!” It finally began to quiet down.

Harry walked forward, joining me in the middle of the stage and spoke slowly as usual. “We set up a contest for the show tonight. And here was our winner!”

A smallish, brown haired girl walked timidly onto the stage with a microphone in hand, and the crowd roared. “Hi,” she spoke softly into the microphone. I smiled at her, and the lads led her to the center stage with Harry and I.

“Sabrina is going to help me make an announcement,” I told the crowd. The girl smiled and blushed, and I saw Elysa on the side of the stage giving a strange look to management. They didn’t answer her as we continued.

We began to sing together. Sabrina took most of the solos, it was clear that she had practiced a lot before even sending in her video. The crowd became silent as her singing was intoxicating for anyone with ears to listen to.

“So don’t you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine, and that makes love work hard,”

I let her sing for longer than I initially anticipated, but when it got to my part, I belted out the words and notes with all the power I had in me.

“You are the best thing, that’s ever been mine,”

I looked directly at Elysa and saw as her eyes began to water up. I let the small girl finish up the Taylor Swift song as I ran over to the girl of my dreams. I picked her up and swung her around, making sure not to hit her foot on anything. I carried her onto the stage with me and wiped the beginnings of tears off of her face. It was a perfect moment.

Elysa’s POV

I woke up in the morning with a giant smile on my face. It might be 3 am, but it was all ok because I was lying next to the boy of my dreams. His hand flopped over to turn off the alarm and he turned back to face me and move some hair out of my still sleepy face. His lips made contact with mine and I savored the moment as I continued my smile into his.

“Did you like last night?” he asked me sweetly. I smiled.

“Of course Liam, it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” I smiled back before looking at the lock beside the hotel bed that had become so comfortable in the night. “We need to get going, the Today show is-“

Instantly, lips were attached to mine again. I giggled into Liam’s mouth before realizing what his true intent was.

“We don’t need to meet the lads downstairs for another hour,” he whispered lowly into my lips. I hummed and smiled, trying to hide my excitement for what was to come.

“So you’re making me lose sleep?” I teased him with a whisper, my lips nearly touching his but not quite.

“This is worth it though, love.” I smiled, as I knew he was right.

I crashed my lips forward onto his again, closing the gap between our bodies physically, but also our minds. He quickly took the opportunity to slip his tongue into my mouth, and I allowed it. I had finally figured out how to fight for dominance into a kiss, but he still won control, and that was ok.

Liam’s hands rubbed up and down my back, forcing my shirt nearly off with that simple motion. But it stayed put, my hands being connected to Liam’s torso. I finally let go, letting him remove my shirt fully, and then his, before crashing back down, missing the feeling of his lips in connection to mine.

“I love you so much,” he nearly groaned into my mouth. I giggled a bit as I continued, focused on showing him how much everything he had done for me meant.

Liam’s hands reached down to my loosely fitting pajama pants, but I swatted him away. He looked at me questioningly before I told him what I had been thinking all along.

“You’ve done so much for me, I want to do something special for you.” A cheeky smile appeared on his face as his eyes filled with lust. I smiled as I moved his hands back to his own pants, and began to pull those down.

“You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do Ely,” he told me, breaking from his lustful intentions for only a moment for me to assure him that this is what I wanted.

“Maybe just help me a little, but I want this, and I know you do too.”

He smiled, I was right. Liam helped me pull his pants down and he was left in only his boxers, a thin layer of fabric separating me from his large member. I rubbed it in my hand through the thin fabric as I looked directly into his eyes. The look on his face told me that what I was doing was right.

I kissed down his chest until I reached the hem of the fabric that I was beginning to despise. When I got there, I looked up at Liam, took the elastic band between my teeth, and gently pulled down. I looked up at him again, making sure I was doing alright. He smiled as he just watched me work, and I finally got the boxers off.

This summer I had given Liam hand jobs before, rubbing him off carefully at first before I learned how to do it exactly how he liked it. He had taken my virginity after being officially together for only two and half months. But somehow, I had missed a step in my ‘training’, making this the first time I was going to attempt what was about to happen.

I looked down at his large erection, which had slapped up to his stomach. I rubbed it lightly like I would any other time, but Liam saw with my nerves what was going to happen. He began to hum the tune of the song Whistle, and I couldn’t help but giggle.

I did as the song instructed and put my lips together. I came real close and kissed his tip before blowing some air through the small part in my mouth. His face transformed and I knew I was doing everything right. I suddenly became more confident as I licked up the length of his long shaft.

I felt him shudder beneath my touch; a satisfying feeling filling me. I smiled as I continued to lick, building the confidence to do what I had been worried about doing for months now. Eventually, I took about half of his thick erection in my mouth. I was scared to gag as my head moved back and forth. Liam put his hand in my hair as his eyes and head rolled back, filling with the feeling of pleasure.

Liam’s POV

I woke up for the second time that morning. Ely was in my arms with nothing covering her top, and I was completely exposed. I smiled as I kissed her forehead, turning off the second alarm that I had set.

“Wake up love,” I whispered to her. Elysa’s eyes began to flutter open and I couldn’t help but kiss her again. “I love you,” I told her.

“I love you too, Liam,” she said.


	20. Today in New York

Elysa’s POV

The fact that I was actually awake at this hour was crazy. But as I looked up into Liam’s eyes, I knew it was worth it .I remembered how only an hour ago I had been able to give him a special moment, and that alone made me happy. The fact that I was able to make him feel as great as he is able to make me feel gave me the biggest smile.

“Come on love, we have to go on the Today show,” he whispered. I yawned and just stared up into his sparkling eyes.

“Can I just go back to sleep?” I whined as I rolled around a bit and covered myself in blankets as well as Liam’s arms.

He laughed a bit, “no, I need you there Ely. You’re good luck,” he leaned over and kissed me again and I giggled.

Just then, we heard a knock at the door. Liam and I both simultaneously groaned as he shouted in the sound’s direction and rolled out of bed. I sat up to see who it was as he opened the door and it was Paul. I smiled and waved before they spoke.

“The Today show wanted to talk to Elysa today too, so the stylist wanted to get some ideas.” We were both dumbstruck. Me? Why would they want to talk to me?

“Can you just look at pictures and stuff? We just woke up,” Liam was doing a great job of pushing back his shock. Paul nodded and he closed the door, but the moment Liam turned around I saw the shocked look on his face.

“I can’t do this Liam,” I told him in a scared whisper. He came down and sat beside me, rubbing my back. There was nothing he could really say. Once something like this was decided, there was almost no way of turning it around.

Liam’s POV

So far, the Today show was going pretty well. They asked the lads and I a lot of the same questions as always, and we were set to perform our latest single in just a few minutes after a commercial when one of the show’s hosts walked over to Elysa.

“So, are you ready?” she asked in an annoyingly cheerful voice. Elysa looked over at me and I wrapped my arms around her. I knew this was going to be difficult. She was just a regular girl, and asking her to on air at such a big show was insane.

“I guess,” she said with a deep breath. “But why do y’all wanna interview me anyway?”

The lady gave a small chuckle. “We’ve heard some rumors lately that you might want to respond to. And I don’t think you realize how much young girls look up to you!” Elysa blushed and looked up at me. I felt a sense of pride at the thought that others looked up to her and appreciated her amazingness almost as much as I did. But I couldn’t keep myself from wondering about what rumors there might be, and why they wouldn’t just ask me about them.

I watched as Ely walked out onto the set and sat down on the couch. The situated her and talked a bit of small talk until we went on another part of the set to perform. The entire time I was watching Elysa, worried about what they might ask her and what she might say, but I had to keep my hopes up.

We finished and I walked over to Ely and kissed her softly on the lips. “Good luck, you will be amazing, love,” I whispered to her. She giggled as I walked off set and they started asking her questions.

“Welcome back! Here we have Elysa, Liam Payne’s latest girl.” She spoke directly to the camera in a way that sort of scared me before turning to actually face Ely. “So, Elysa, girls all around the world look up to you now. Being a Junior in high school and traveling so much, what do you think that says about how much you care, or don’t care, about school? Are you afraid that being with Liam is going to ruin your future education?”

Elysa looked nervous, and she looked over at me. I smiled encouragingly and she turned back to face the lady.

“Actually,” Elysa started, more calmly than I expected, “my school counselor set me up on an independent study program because paparazzi were crowding my school and it wasn’t safe for me or other people. Liam only decided to take me on tour after that happened. And Louis has been tutoring me so far. I’ve passed all my online tests with flying colors.”

“So no worries about college?”

“Everyone is worried about college! But all the boys and their management have been really supportive of my studying. School comes first and they all not only respect that, but encourage it, and the thought that they would be ruining my future in any way is ridiculous.” She looked over at me and smiled for confirmation. I took a deep breath, she had done amazing.

“Ok then.” The lady seemed disappointed with the response that she had earned, but I was proud of how well Elysa was doing. “Well, is it difficult being in a relationship with one of the most famous boys in the world?” she asked.

“Not at all. If it was difficult, I wouldn’t be in the relationship. Liam makes everything so easy.” She was surprisingly confident.

The lady across from her nodded before adding, “Even with all the girls screaming all the time?”

The lads and I chuckled a bit, as did Elysa before answering. “I mean, the noise sucks. He’s always nice to his fans and they don’t really get in the way.”

The expression of the lady asking questions seemed to change. “So the fans were not the reason for your recent injury?” She pointed towards Elysa’s cast.

“No?” She answered questioningly. Elysa looked over to me as if to ask, but I had no idea why they would ask her this either.

“So did Liam do this to you then?”

“NO!” She screamed. My face began to get hot and I clenched my fists. The lads had to hold me back a bit as I just could not stay still while someone was accusing me of this to the girl I loved. I would never hurt her.

“Are you sure? That stunt at the show last night looked an awful lot like an apology,” the lady kept suggesting.

“Absolutely not! I fell when we were surfing in Australia! Liam did nothing to me. I fell and he was more worried than I was. He had to convince me to go to the hospital!” I could tell that anger and rage was starting to build up in her as well. .

. “This has to stop,” I whispered to Harry. He nodded, but the next question had already come.

“What does your family think of all of this?” And with that, I could see her beginning to break down. Everything must have been flooding her, Sam, her parents, everything. I saw as her breath caught in her throat and she sniffled a bit. She couldn’t answer.

I turned to Harry and he nodded quickly. I ran in and picked Elysa up off of the couch and ran off of the set. There was shouting everywhere. I had just taken her out of a live interview. Management was upset, but I didn’t care. I just wanted Elysa to feel alright.

I ran as far and as fast as I could with Elysa in my arms. The shouting behind us was getting louder for a while, but I heard Harry as he tried to push the management and TV crew off. I saw as the tears started falling down Elysa’s face and she sniffled up what she could.

“It’s ok, Ely, it’s going to be ok,” I told her in a low voice.

I was running out of breath from carrying her while she had a cast on, but we eventually made it outside. There were still people everywhere, so I rushed around the corner to the car that was waiting to take us back to the hotel after the interview. When we got there, there was a driver sitting in the front.

“Please, we need some space!” I shouted at him, and he left the space immediately. I looked down at the most beautiful girl in the world, seeing that she was broken down completely. I sat her next to me and rubbed her back, but she just sank back into my chest. I shushed her as I tried to comfort her, but I didn’t know what to say.

“I love you Liam,” were the first real words to come out of her mouth.

“I know Elysa, I love you too.” I watched as she took a few deep breaths before her broken eyes looked up at me. “Every time I think I’ll never see you more broken, you surprise me,” I said to her. It was meant to lighten the mood, but I could see that it had done the opposite.

“I’m sorry Liam. I’m sorry for ruining everything. I’m sorry for making your life so complicated. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she cried into me. I continued to rub her back as my own eyes began to water.

“Don’t be sorry, love. You have made my life a million times more amazing since you sent that letter.” She looked up at me as her crying subsided into hiccups. Her eyes sparkling slightly from the tears that had previously drowned them out. I brushed some hair out of her face, and kissed her forehead. “I promise. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you I love you I love you. You told that lady that I make things easier for you? Well you’ve made things easier for me.”

“Really?” she asked in a broken voice.

“Really.” I responded confidently.


	21. Exploring New York

Elysa’s POV

 

Liam and I spent a few more moments in solitude in that car, but soon the rest of the boys and management had appeared. Paparazzi were asking for comments on what had happened every moment they could get. I was appalled, could they not see something was wrong? I’m just a normal girl, things happen!

 

The boys quickly loaded themselves into the car and Paul took the driver’s seat. We sat there in silence for a few moments, hoping that the paparazzi would just go away on their own. But they didn’t. And soon the screaming girls were finding our location as well.

 

Paul looked back at Liam and I, I looked at Liam, and Liam nodded his head to Paul. The car started moving and I buried my face into Liam’s chest again. He continued to rub my back and my arm, trying to comfort me, but there really wasn’t much that he could do. I tried to hold in my tears now that there were others around, but it was difficult.

 

The silence continued for about five minutes until Paul pulled into a random parking garage. He drove down to the bottom floor and parked in the very back so we would at least have some time before the paparazzi or fans found us. I took a deep breath, not sure what to expect him to say to me, but he didn’t say anything. He opened the door and walked out of the car. A moment passed, then Zayn left, looking me in the eye and trying to pass on a smile.

 

“You are going to be ok Elysa,” Louis told me, holding on to my arm. I wiped a tear from my eye and leaned forward to hug him. “I promise,” he finished, before leaving the car. Harry and Niall followed, giving me encouraging looks. And then I was alone with Liam again.

 

“Thanks for carrying me out…” I said to him while looking away. Somehow I had become embarrassed by the way that I acted. But Liam wouldn’t have it. He used his finger to turn my face back towards him.

 

“I love you Elysa. I really do. I just want you to be ok.” There was a moment of silence. I had no idea what was going to happen the rest of the day, but I could only assume that there was more promo before the show tonight. “If you want to just stay at the hotel tonight, I totally understand.”

 

I looked up at him, unsure of what I had just heard. He almost always insisted on me going everywhere with him and the boys, even when I didn’t want to. “Are you sure?” I asked him.

 

He looked at me, his eyes sparkling, and kissed me softly on the lips. “I’m positive. Get your computer out and skype with Zach, I know you want to. And I’ll have some good movies sent to the room.” He smiled and kissed me again, and I couldn’t help but giggle a bit.

 

“I love you Liam,”

 

“I love you more, Elysa.”

 

Liam’s POV

 

The boys and I were out and semi exploring the city of New York. We were in Time Square, but my mind was back with Elysa in the hotel. I shouldn’t have woken her up early this morning, the lack of sleep only built up on her making things more and more difficult to handle. As I stood in the middle of one of the busiest places I had ever seen in my entire life, I couldn’t help but worry about Elysa feeling lonely back in the hotel room by herself.

 

“Mate look, it’s us!” Niall tapped on my shoulder, ecstatic at seeing our own faces on a huge billboard here in New York. I smiled and chuckled a bit. It was an old picture that they had chosen, but it was cool never the less. “HAH! Your hair!” he started to laugh. The picture was old enough that it had my hair styled the way it was about two hairstyles ago. I couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

 

“There’s the Liam we missed!” Zayn shouted from a few feet away, simply because it was so loud. “Don’t worry about Ely, she’ll be fine in the hotel. Have fun, we’re in New York!” He tried to put on a New York accent at the end of his sentence, but it failed miserably, pulling the lads and I into insane laughter.

 

“Excuse me? Liam? Can I have a picture?” I heard a small, shy voice next to me say.

 

“Of course!” I responded quickly before even turning around. But once I did, I couldn’t help but smile. It was a small girl, maybe about 10 years old. She looked very shy and her parents were a few feet away smiling at her. I leaned down a bit so that we were closer to the same height as her parents snapped a quick picture.

 

“Thank you!” she squealed, as she walked back over towards her parents. I couldn’t help but smile as the little girl ran away. She reminded me of Elysa in a way. Her innocence, her shyness, even the sound of her squeal after our picture.

 

“Lads!” Paul shouted as us even though he was only a few feet away, “We have to move along!” I could barely hear anything over what I assumed was a normal roar of noise in the square combined with the high pitched squealing and screaming that our band now brought with us wherever we went.

 

Louis tapped on my shoulder before speaking into my ear about where I next location would be, but I wasn’t really listening. When we finally got there, I couldn’t help but smile yet again. We were at NBC’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller center. I had been here once before when the lads and I preformed on SNL.

 

As we walked inside, the screaming subsided. At least these girls had the good intentions not to scream so loudly inside of a building. We ate a quick lunch on the bottom floor before a tour guide led us into an elevator that none of our fans were to use. He took us up a few floors, and let us out at a familiar studio. We were back in 8h, where they filmed Saturday Night Live.

 

“One Direction!” I heard someone yell from a few feet away. The lads and I all turned our heads to see Tina Fey walking towards us. “I didn’t know you would be back here!”

 

The lads all said their hellos, as did I. But before I let Tina walk away, I insisted on a picture. “My girlfriend is a huge fan, could I get picture with you for her?” I asked. She laughed her charming laugh as we proceeded to take a picture. This time I felt like the small fangirl shyly talking to their idol, and she wasn’t even my idol.

 

Elysa’s POV

 

Liam had told me to open my computer and talk to Zach, but to be honest, I just wanted to be alone. I didn’t want to talk to anybody, I don’t even think I would talk to Liam if he was there. I put in a girly movie that Liam had ordered up the room and got comfortable in the bed with some room service hot chocolate. The whipped cream they put on top was the especially good kind; thick, creaming, sweet but not too sweet. And the hot chocolate itself was milky and chocolatey, just the perfect temperature to not have to blow on, but still be able to warm me up.

 

I sighed as I thought to myself. The boys were probably out there having so much fun, meeting fans, meeting other celebrities, doing crazy things that would be all over tumblr within the hour. I couldn’t figure out if the thought made me sad, or glad. Sad that I wasn’t there with them, or glad that they were having an amazing time. I told myself and Liam before coming on this trip that I didn’t want to get in the way of him and the boys, so I figured staying in the hotel this afternoon was exactly what I asked for.

 

The movie was almost over and I still had no idea what it was about. I had barely been watching it to begin with, mostly being caught up in my own thoughts. It ended with an intense kissing scene between the girl that I had figured out to be the main character, and a boy that I thought was her brother, but upon further inspection I realized was her best friend / boyfriend to be. The credits began to roll and I couldn’t help but think about home.

 

I missed Zach. I had always thought that in a few years he would see the potential I had and ask me out on a date. I never really liked him, but he was my best friend and it was impossible not to think about the future. I always thought that he would end up being my first boyfriend, but that it wouldn’t be a very physical relationship. I could never picture myself kissing him too much, I especially couldn’t imagine doing the things that I do with Liam. But since middle school he had been the one person that truly cared about me. Now I had two people.

 

Just then, I felt a vibration by my leg. I put down the empty mug I had been holding for at least ten minutes out of denial of actually finishing it. The screen on my phone displayed Liam’s name and I smiled, happy that he was thinking about me and that he could keep me from thinking about Zach in that way too much.

 

When I opened the phone, I nearly screamed, or I would have if my heart hadn’t dropped into my stomach. On the screen on my phone was Liam with Tina Fey, one of my biggest idols. I was immediately jealous, but thankful that Liam had thought of me when he saw her.

 

I responded, thanking him so much for sending that to me, and closed my phone with a smile. At least I could still talk to him, even if I was locked up in this room.

 

I shook the lonely thoughts, along with sleepiness, from my mind as I realized that this would be a perfect time to work on school things. There was no way I was in the mood to math right now, but I did have a US History essay that wasn’t going to write itself. At least I didn’t think so, and I don’t think any amount of money that Liam or the boys had would really change that for me.

 

I grabbed my backpack as I wobbled over to the desk in the room, trying not to put too much weight on my still sore leg. I spread out a text book and a notebook, pulled out my favorite pencil, and started reading about the American Revolution. I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of asking Louis for help on this. Dear British friend, please help me study about America’s revolt against the British. I laughed out loud to myself before getting down to focus. I wanted to get all the work done as early as I could here in America, because when we got to California I wanted it to be pure fun and adventure.

 

Liams’ POV

 

Seeing Elysa’s name light up on my phone put me into a trance of thinking about her. It was like I was back to months ago, when she and I would text all day, every day, about everything. I would stay up late despite our horrid time difference because it was all worth it just to talk to her.

 

“Mate, Mate!” Niall yelled at me. I snapped out of my thoughts as I looked at the blond haired boy standing in front of me. “We gotta go to the venue.” I smiled as I followed him and the other lads back into the car that we were accustomed to traveling in.

 

Once we were all situated, Harry looked up at me and smiled. “You got a text from Elysa?” He said with a cheeky grin on his face. I just nodded in response, my mind elsewhere. “Was it dirty?!” he shouted. The other boys erupted into enthusiastic laughter as I blushed.

 

“No! I sent her the picture of me and Tina Fey!” It didn’t matter what I said, the boys were still going to laugh at me. “Why?” I asked innocently after a few minutes.

 

“Cuz,” Harry started, cheeky smile reappearing on his baby-face. “I reckon she’d be good at phone sex!” The car erupted into laughter once more and I just rolled my eyes at the boys. Maybe she would be, but even being apart as much as we were, we had never tried it before. I added it to my mental list of things to do next time we were away from each other.

 

I opened my phone up again and typed in Elysa’s name before tapping out the message.

 

I love you Elysa. I know you are probably working on school right now, so I hope you can focus without too many problems. Text or call me if you need anything. I miss you so much love x


	22. Up In Florida, Down In Arizona

Elysa’s POV

 

We had traveled down most of the east coast of the country and my leg was feeling significantly better. I was itching to get out of the cast and be able to drive. But I had to remind myself that it might have to wait until I got to California. Either way, I was determined to take Liam out in my car once we were near home.

 

The tour bus wasn’t really built in a way that condoned sleep. The bunks were small and the boys were noisy. A TV or radio was almost always on, and if I was next to the window at night I would get chilled. Liam went out and bought a couple of extra blankets after I complained about it the first night and he’s been cuddling me even closer since. But I feel bad because I tend to wake up in the middle of the night for no reason.

 

On our last night in Florida before we were set to fly out to Arizona, where we would take a bus around the Western states, eventually ending up near my hometown in California, Liam and I were cuddling in his bunk on the bus. Our flight was going to happen essentially in the dead of night, and I had no clue as to why. These boys and their management could afford anything, yet they still chose horrible timing for flights. We cuddled there together, waiting for time to pass and maybe even get a bit of sleep before we were sent to the airport.

 

I squirmed a bit, not able to find a comfortable position. I was sure that Liam was asleep at this point, and tried hard not to wake him up. But it was no use. Regardless of if he was awake before or not, he was now. I knew it when he turned to face me and fluttered his eyelids slowly open.

 

“Are you ok love?” he whispered to me, trying not to wake anyone around us. I sighed, not knowing exactly how to answer. There was a lot on my mind, and the past few days I had actually avoided talking to Liam about what I was thinking. I was worried that I might get in the way of his performances or his fans.

 

I couldn’t keep myself from thinking of my brother back home. He was living with some girl now, and that terrified me. For so long I had been the most important girl in his life, and the idea of someone else scared me. I know it seems strange to feel like I’m competing with my brother’s ‘girlfriend’, but I was. On top of that, I hadn’t talked to Zach in a while. I had been focusing on school work so that by the time we got to California I would have some freedom to have fun, explore, show the boys around.

 

“It’s ok,” he whispered into my ear, pulling me closer to his side, “I’m right here.” He paused, as if trying to put together his next words. I listened intently, almost worried about what he might say. “You can tell me anything.” There was a silence as my shocked body refused to move. I knew I could tell him anything, but him saying that to me meant that he must have noticed that I had been quiet recently.

 

“I just…” I couldn’t figure out how to put my words together for Liam. I wanted to pour my heart out to him, but I wasn’t sure what it was I was trying to pour. “I just…” I tried again. It was no use. I started to feel variations in my breathing and noticed that I was holding back from crying, and Liam noticed as well.

 

“Shh, baby,” he said, stroking my back with compassion, “it’s ok. It’s going to be ok.” I wiped what I feared would soon turn into a tear away from my eye and snuggled in further to Liam’s body.

 

We laid there together for a while longer, neither of us saying anything or moving anything other than our chests to breathe. I was almost sure that he was asleep by the time I was able to put words together from mind into a coherent sentence, but I said it out loud with no warning anyways.

 

“Can I write you something?” I whispered quickly, suddenly embarrassed of what I had said.

 

“You’ve been writing?” He asked me, eyes still closed. I took a deep breath. He knew that I wrote mostly when I was going through difficult times, it was an outlet for me. I would either write stories where I was transported into a better life, or poems where I could truly say what I was thinking.

 

I sighed in acknowledgement and he continued to rub my back for comfort. “Good, I know it makes you feel better. I would love to read some of it on the plane.” I smiled, ecstatic that he truly wanted to see my writing. I was always afraid to show it to people, the thought that they wouldn’t like it eating up inside of me. But more than that, my writing, my stories and poems, they were a part of me, a part of my soul, and it’s hard to show that to someone.

 

I moved my head a bit on Liam’s chest, trying to get more comfortable as I was finally able to let my eyelids droop down over my eyes and drift to sleep.

 

Liam’s POV

 

I was finally allowing myself to drift to sleep, thinking that at this point Elysa must be safe in her mind and seemed to have done the same. But unfortunately, I heard the curtain to my bunk open and turned my head as quickly as I could without forcing Elysa to move. Niall’s tired face stared straight at me.

 

“Mate, we have to get to the airport now.” He was looking at me, but whispering because of his obvious thoughtfulness and care for Ely. I sighed, and nodded as he walked away to wake the other lads.

 

Turning my attention to the sleeping beauty at my side, I felt conflicted. I knew she hadn’t been sleeping well, and the fact that she had finally managed to get some things off of her mind enough to get some shut eye made it especially difficult to wake her.

 

I rubbed her outside arm lightly while cooing at her with her name. Elysa shuffled her body a bit, but didn’t wake. I smiled, seeing her in such a vulnerable, beautiful state. I kissed her forehead lightly, secretly hoping that it wouldn’t actually wake her up. It didn’t. I smiled again.

 

The bus came to a stop and I slowly sat up, trying still not to wake the girl of my dreams from her own dreams. I looked to side of the bed where we had both laid out our small carryon bags before settling in the bunk and smiled.

 

“Niall,” I whisper-yelled down the bus. I caught his eyes and he walked over. “Wouldya mind taking mine and Ely’s bags? She’s still sleeping, I don’t want to wake her.” He smiled and nodded his head and he bent down and picked up our bags. My eyes lingered on the navy drawstring bag that I knew carried Elysa’s closest and most necessary items.

 

The bus came to a slow stop as the lads started to file out. I stopped Harry, handing him the blankets that I had carefully peeled off of Elysa’s body before he was able to walk out. I then bent down and grabbed her, carrying her out of the bus. I could tell she had partially awoken from the movement, but I shushed her and continued to walk. When the cold night air of the outside hit her skin, I could see her eyelids flutter open.

 

We made eye contact and I smiled. “The lads have our bags, just going into the airport now, love.” She smiled back at me and relaxed enough to close her eyes to outside once more.

 

Elysa’s POV

 

When I finally woke up for real, I was in a comfortable airplane seat in first class. Liam was on one side of me and Niall was on the other. I saw my bag near my feet and felt the soft blankets that came from the tour bus bunk around my shoulders. I smiled, removing my head from Liam’s chest and realizing that he was in a much deeper sleep that I had been. I giggled a bit, wondering what he might have been dreaming about.

 

I turned to Niall, who in contrast to Liam was very much awake, staring out at what seemed to be stars, but were actually city lights bellow us. I tapped his shoulder, causing him to shake a bit out of shock, he must have thought I was very much still asleep.

 

“Good morning sleeping beauty,” he teased. I blushed a bit and giggled before replying.

 

“Do you have any paper?” I asked him. It must have seemed to come out of nowhere, but I didn’t usually carry paper in my carryon bags. A pencil: always, but paper? Not really. He nodded, handing me his own pad. I smiled as I had to flip through pages and pages of lyrics that he had been writing in the past weeks to get to a blank page.

 

I turned away from the blond-haired boy and sat with the lined paper in front of me, and began to write with my favorite pencil.

 

About an hour later, Liam began to stir, and I instinctively started trying to hide my writing before remembering that I intended to show it to him. His eyes opened and his lips curled into a smile before pressing lightly to mine. After a moment, he took notice of the paper in my hand.

 

“Can I read it love?” he asked sweetly.

 

“No,” I replied rather harshly. He was a bit taken back, but I started to explain. “I don’t want to be with you when you read it, and I don’t want to talk about it once you’ve read it, I just want you to read it, ok?” he nodded his head, kissing me sweetly again to show that he agreed.

 

Goose bumps started popping up on my skin as if it was the first time that I had felt his soft, warm lips on my own. He smiled, responding by rubbing my arms a bit and pulling the blankets further around us, trying to comfort me.

 

By this point, Niall had drifted to sleep and my mind began to wander. I looked out the window beside me, seeing the city lights that still appeared to resemble stars before turning to Liam who had been holding me silently for the past few minutes.

 

“Li?” I tested for his attention. He sighed in acknowledgement and I allowed myself to let my thoughts flow freely. “Remember that night on top of the hotel in Ireland?” I asked him. Again, he made a soft noise. “Remember looking up at the stars?” he nodded. “Now, we’re looking down to them, and someone down there might be looking up at us. Do you think we were looking up at anyone that night, Liam?”

 

He was quiet for a moment, trying to take in what I was saying before nodding his head slowly and whispering a response. “That night, we were looking at a lot of things. I was looking at you in your eyes, but I was also looking at you in the stars, because I know you are as special and as unique as a star.” I giggled and felt the heat rise to my cheeks as I blushed harder than I had in a while.

 

“I love you Liam,” I said softly, nuzzling myself more comfortably into his body.

 

“I love you too Elysa,” he responded in my ear before kissing me softly.

 

And within moments, the plane had landed. We were in Arizona, and I smiled.

 

“Liam, we’re here,” I whispered, smiling at him. He pressed his lips innocently to mine and I chuckled a bit. “I have an idea of how we can break in the bed in this hotel.”


	23. Fun In Arizona?

Elysa’s POV

 

I don’t know what came over me, but I did know for sure that I wanted to get to this new hotel room and rip Liam’s clothes off of his body. And he seemed to agree with this sentiment as he smiled and kissed me, lips lingering longer than usual.

 

“What if there are fans?” He whispered, lips just moments from my own. I smiled, not giving him an answer. I didn’t know what to say and it didn’t matter. There were always fans, they were everywhere, and I was trying to get used to them being around wherever we went.

 

Niall coughed loudly, reminding us that he was sitting right there and there were other people around. I giggled a bit, trying to hide the pinkish color that I’m sure my cheeks were starting to turn to. I quickly grabbed my small navy blue draw string bag and put it around my shoulders, Liam following suit with his own as we filed off of the plane as quickly as possible.

 

Normally I liked to linger around in the airports. Something about airports seemed so special to me, like it was the gateway between the world on earth and the stars above. Everyone there was going to a different place for a different reason, and even the small things seemed to capture my attention. But not this time.

 

This time, Liam put my hand in his and we dashed across the terminal as quickly as we could with my crutches holding us back a bit. I led him through crowds that he didn’t quite understand how to maneuver. At one point, while trying to rush through a group of fans, I caught his eyes. There was a hunger deep inside of them and I noticed their normal sparkle had been replaced by a deep lust. I smiled to myself before continuing to hobble-dart through the mass of people.

 

By the time we made it to the hotel, it was clear what was going to happen. Liam and I couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. The other boys didn’t even have time to ask questions, if they had any. The moment Liam got our keys we raced to the elevator. I smiled up at him, noticing his hardening member in his pants, and I hadn’t even begun to touch him yet.

 

The elevator doors open and we raced down the hall to our room. Management had once again given us a room with two separate beds, but we instinctively ran towards the same one. I plopped myself down on the plush mattress, throwing the annoying crutches to the side, and Liam followed suit.

 

He kissed me deeply and without a second thought, our tongues were casually fighting for dominance. I let my hands explore his body. His chest was warm and comforting as always. My hands ventured down a bit lower to the hem of his shirt, tugging at it, and he immediately lifted it up over his head.

 

My lips ached to be touching his again, but he refused. I looked at him confused, but his eyes held a warmth as they looked into mine. “You are so beautiful Elysa,” he whispered, causing me to blush. His thumb brushed over my heated cheek as his eyes faded from the sweet and warm sparkle back to the dark lust that I had seen earlier. Once again our lips were crashing down onto each other.

 

Fireworks seemed to go off in my mind, more powerful than any time recently we had kissed. The sparks flew around in my mind as Liam’s hands flew around my body. It was like we both had a hunger for the other one that just could not be totally fulfilled.

 

Liam lay on top of me as his hands explored their way down to the hem of my own shirt. I allowed him to lift it over my head, but reconnected our lips as quickly as possible. The kiss deepened with every second that it continued and my body was in complete bliss. I felt a warmth spread from my lips around my entire body, landing and lingering around my groin.

 

“Liam,” I whispered through his lips.

 

“I know,” he whispered to me. His ability to know what I was thinking was impeccable as he reached into his wallet and pulled out a small silver square package. He put it on the small night table that the hotel had put uniformly beside each bed and we continued. But something in my head told me to be worried.

 

I disconnected my lips from Liam’s, feeling an aching need to reconnect. But my brain worked harder than my heart on this one. I looked over at the condom that Liam had pulled out and clearly intended to use. But with one look, I knew something was wrong.

 

“Liam,” I said. He must have caught my worried tone as he moved a few feet over to see what I was looking at. We made eye contact and sighed. The package had been opened at some point while it was in Liam’s wallet. “Do you have another one?” he shook his head, clearly mad at himself.

 

“I’ll buy more tomorrow,” he said with a sigh. He moved across the room, stroking his hair out of stress.

 

“Sorry, I just…”

 

“I know,” he cut me off. “We need to be safe. I love you too much to risk anything.” His eyes had gone back to their normal loving and warm sparkle as mine connected to them. “I love you so much,” he whispered to me.

 

His thumb caressed my cheek as I continued to look into his eyes. Our lips connected once more but this time slowly and with a message of care and love as opposed to the hungry one that we had been engaging in before.

 

“I love you too Liam,” I whispered into his warm pink lips, “so much.” I paused just to look into his eyes. This boy cared about me so much that he understood that we needed legitimate protection and was willing to put his boyish hormones aside for me. “Thank you,” I added carefully.

 

After a moment Liam got up and went into the bathroom, probably to take care of the small problem that I had left him with. I opened the door, realizing that we had beaten our bags to the room and assumed that they would be sitting right outside.

 

“WOAH!” I closed the door suddenly. That had to have been Harry’s voice, and I was wearing a shirt. This was horrible. “It’s ok Elysa,” he chuckled, “I was gonna see it sooner or later!” but the heat was already rushing to my cheeks as I felt a mixture of pain and embarrassment.

 

“Liam!” I yelled across the room. I was forced to wait a moment before he walked out of the bathroom and responded. One look at my face and the expression on his own changed completely.

 

“What happened?”

 

I waited for Liam to walk over to me and sit down beside me. He placed an arm around me and rubbed my own arm in an attempt to sooth me.

 

“I thought our bags would be outside…and Harry saw me…like this.” I was mortified. I could not believe that had happened.

 

But Liam only chuckled. “That’s all? Babe, that’s nothing, it’s just Harry!” This enraged me. I was not a person who was used to be naked, or even partially naked around others. “It’s just like being in a bathing suit!” he told me.

 

“Liam, I haven’t worn a bathing suit in over a year…” I reminded him harshly. His facial expression changed once again as he realized what I meant.

 

“Babe, Harry loves you just like the rest of the lads do. Your body is beautiful, and he’s even told us he thinks that. There is no reason to be embarrassed.” He smiled at me and kissed me sweetly on the lips. I was still embarrassed though. “I’ll talk to him in the morning if you want me to,” he offered. I nodded my head and he kissed me again. “Alright, let me get those bags now.”

 

Once Liam had gotten our bags, I immediately dug through mine for a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Even the smallest things seemed to bring my insecurities back, or so it seemed. But Liam was sweet and helpful; he cuddled me as we drifted off to sleep and told me exactly what I needed to hear.

 

Liam’s POV

 

I woke up to see the most beautiful girl on earth wrapped in my arms and I couldn’t help but smile. I knew she was going through a lot, but she still managed to glow without even trying. I talked to Harry and told him how insecure she was, and he unsurprisingly agreed not to say anything more. But I was really hoping that I would be able to get Elysa to feel more comfortable with her body.

 

“So how was last night? You two were going at it in the airport,” Harry chuckled after I had talked to him. I smiled, reminiscing about the make out session that I had shared with Elysa the night prior.

 

“It was fun,” I admitted, “but it didn’t go far.” I wasn’t thinking much when I said that, but Harry raised an eyebrow. “No, no. I only had one condom left and it was opened so we decided to play it safe.” Harry chuckled.

 

“Mate, you gotta buy some more!” he told me in his cheeky tone.

 

“Yeah mate, it will look totally innocent when I walk into a drug store and buy a box of condoms while I’m dating my 17 year old seemingly innocent girlfriend,” I sneered at him. But I could see the gears working in his mind as I said it.

 

“Mate, I’ll pick some up. The paps think I’m shagging every girl I’m in a picture with,” he chuckled. For once Harry was using his manwore reputation to help me out, and I really did appreciate it.

 

When I walked back into mine and Elysa’s room and told her about Harry’s offer, she smiled. “You cheeky boy,” she told me, as she came close and ended the space between us to connect our lips. I grinned into her lips, happy to see that she was happy.

 

“I’m not sure when we’ll get to use them though,” I told her honestly. “We have shows and promo for the next week and half solidly.” I sighed.

 

“Soon enough, it’ll happen soon enough I’m sure,” she reassured me. I kissed her again, unable to keep my body off of hers. “Maybe once we get to California?” she offered cheekily.

 

The thought of having this kind of fun in her room back in her house drove me insane. If only we could get management to give the lads and I a day off while we’re there. Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard, they would have to understand if we were near Elysa’s home.

 

“Besides, I hate Arizona. It’s like LA but a little further east, more desert, and less laws,” she joked as she walked across the room to her phone. I couldn’t help but let my eyes be captivated my her backside while simultaneously laughing at what I’m sure was some sort of joke that I just honestly did not understand.


	24. Waiting in Southern California

Liam’s POV

 

Ever since we got to the west coast of America, Elysa seemed to have a brighter personality. The cast wasn’t bringing her down as much and we were both learning how to live with it. But I don’t know who had been counting down the days more impatiently, me or her. Finally, the countdown had nearly finished, and after the show in Los Angeles we were taking her to a doctor who would hopefully take her cast off for good.

 

After we finished the show, said hello to a few fans, and changed into regular clothes, the look on Elysa’s face told me she was just as eager as I was to get to the doctor’s office this time. She had become quite good at using the crutches, but I knew she wanted so badly to be able to only have to rely on purely herself again, and I wanted her to be as happy as she could be.

 

We walked into the doctor’s office as a big group, but the security guard that I guess they hired anticipating our arrival tonight asked for only Elysa, Paul, and I to go inside. They said it was too crazy to have all of us and there were some really sick people there today. Of course, the lads agreed after hugging Ely and wishing her good luck.

 

Sitting in the room was horrible. It smelled like sanitation supplies and we could tell that it was completely sterile. The three of us were mostly silent, as it was clear that we were all nervous. Finally, a doctor walked into the room, breaking up our awkward looks at each other.

 

“You must be Elysa,” the doctor said without looking up from her clip board.

 

“Hi,” Ely responded timidly. I smiled and put my hand on her knee to try and calm her. I could tell the nerves were starting to get her. Now that we were in California, Elysa should have been able to be driving if it wasn’t for the injury, and she was anxious to get out on the road by herself again.

 

“I just need you to hop on to this table and I’ll take a look at your leg,” the doctor told her. Paul and I helped lift Elysa up to the table that she pointed to and get situated.

 

For about five minutes the doctor examined Ely’s leg. We were all getting nervous as she asked if various things hurt her, and the answer was occasionally ‘yes’. But eventually, the doctor looked up and straight at Paul.

 

“Alright. We can take the cast off today,” we all breathed a sigh of relief and I saw a glow in Elysa’s eyes, “but,” I held my breath again, “we would like for Elysa to participate in some physical therapy for about a week.”

 

Paul’s eyes were as nervous as mine were. That must have been the moment when I realized how much he truly cared about Elysa as well. It was nice to see that he wanted the best for her when he spoke up. “We’ll be on the road for another two weeks, and then flying to Canada and back around Europe.” He told her. The doctor’s face dropped a bit.

 

“I understand you are in quite a difficult situation.” She stopped and took a deep breath, as if trying to calculate some equation in her mind that would ultimately give her an answer that we were all going to be happy with. “Well,” she finally spoke after a moment of contemplation, “If you set an appointment with a doctor at least once a week for the next month that should be sufficient. Of course, it would go faster if you did the therapy all at once.”

 

The three of us exchanged awkward glances for a moment before Paul finally remembered that he was the adult and spoke up. “Would you give us a minute to talk about it in private?” he asked.

 

“Of course,” The doctor answered. “Just push the nurse button when you’re ready.” And she walked out the door.

 

The moment the door closed there was an exhaustion that filled the room. Of course we all wanted Ely to get better as quickly as possible, but we also all wanted her to continue on the tour with us and not be stuck in LA for too long. We had three more shows here before heading to Nevada and then to Northern California where Elysa was from, and she wanted so badly to be with us for those shows at least.

 

“What if,” Paul took a moment after beginning his sentence to make sure he had fully formulated what he was about to suggest. “What if Elysa stayed here for the rest of the LA and Nevada shows, and then flew to meet us near her home?”

 

There was an awkward silence. We all knew that this was ultimately the best choice that any of us could come up with, but it was still quite a letdown. I didn’t want to leave Elysa alone somewhere, but it was sounding like I couldn’t actually take her with me either. 

 

I looked over at Elysa slowly as she carefully nodded her head. I took a deep breath. This was going to be difficult for both of us, but I figured this would be the best solution. Paul stood up and hit the nurse’s button as the doctor had instructed us, and within moments she was back.

 

“So what did we decide?” she asked, as if she was a part of the decision. It was silent as none of us wanted to be the one to answer, to seal in the fate of the next week.

 

Eventually, Paul broke the silence once more. “Elysa will stay here while we finish up the shows in this area and in Nevada, and then fly up to meet us in San Francisco in about a week.” We all took a deep breath, realizing what this plan would really mean for all of us.

 

“And does Elysa have a legal guardian in the area for her to stay with?” My throat dropped into my stomach. She didn’t have anyone to stay with other than me, and once we left, she would have nowhere. We hadn’t even thought of this up to this point. I sometimes forgot that she was still a minor and needed a legal guardian.

 

“No, she doesn’t.” I answered with a deep breath. The doctor looked down at her clipboard for a moment before looking back up at us and responding.

 

“Ok, well if her insurance covers it we can house her in outpatient care for a few days until her leg is fully recovered.” I looked over at Paul, who shrugged, and Elysa did the same.

 

“I don’t really know what my insurance is…if I have any…” Elysa told the doctor timidly.

 

The doctor looked over to me and Paul, “We can figure out the payment issues later then.” She had a sweet smile that came out for the first time in that appointment. “Now, let’s get that cast of, yeah?” Elysa’s face turned to a smile as she proceeded to remove the clunky thing attached to her right leg.

 

Elysa’s POV

 

After taking the cast off, the doctor had let me go ‘home’ to the hotel with boys for the night. But the next day I was admitted to the hospital in a special hall for outpatient care. The room was small and stark, but comfortable none the less. Although I missed the feeling of Liam’s arms wrapped around me as I lay down and slept, and the bed was much less comfortable than the hotel beds that I had come accustomed to, I managed to get pretty good rest.

 

Twice a day a doctor or nurse would come into the room and help me up. There was not much pain in my leg when I put weight on it, but they insisted on taking me around in a wheel chair. At first it felt sort of demeaning, but then I just told myself that I was too important to risk it, and I was able to get by with a smile. The physical therapy was easy, and the days were actually flying by quicker than I expected.

 

The day before my departure, a nurse walked in for a third time that day. It was unexpected, but she quickly explained herself as there to help me gather my things so I could leave the next morning. I told her simply how I didn’t bring much of my belongings with me. Just a few changes of clothes, my phone and a charger, and my computer which I found out after arriving wouldn’t work inside of the hospital. Even still, she helped gather some of my clothes together and laid out what I told her I wanted to wear the next day on the plane to San Francisco.

 

After she walked out, I felt my phone vibrate at my side. I flicked off the dull TV show that was playing in the background the moment that I saw the message was from Liam.

 

Hey babe, how are you feeling? Tomorrow! X

 

I smiled. Seeing that he missed me like I missed him felt great, and I melted a bit inside every time that he called me ‘babe’ or ‘love’ or anything really.

 

Loads better. I can’t wait to see you.

 

I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. Are you alone, can I give you a call? X

 

My heart froze. I knew what was going to happen and I got goose bumps all over my body just from the thought. I had noticed that Liam had been hornier than usual the past few weeks. I suspected it was because he was afraid to take care of things himself when I was around, but I tried to ignore it. I really did want to have more intimate moments with Liam, but something just always seemed to get in the way.

 

Before I even had a chance to finish sorting out my thoughts of reply to his message, my phone began to ring. My heart fluttered with anxiety and nervousness as I answered.

 

“Hi Liam,” I said softly.

 

“Hi Ely,” I heard him say on the other end. I could tell from the sound of his voice that he was somewhat smirking on the other end of the line, which in turn made me smile. I decided to play a bit dumb as we continued.

 

“So, why did you call? Did something happen?” I asked casually while looking around the room.

 

“No,” he answered softly. With every word he said I could hear his hormones speeding up and taking over his body. His breath quickened as he continued, “I just wanted to talk to you.”

 

I smiled in response before remembering that he couldn’t actually see me. “Oh, about what?” I asked him playfully.

 

“Oh nothing, “he teased. I smiled once again. “Just wanted to know what you were up to. They don’t make you wear those horrible gowns in there, do they?” he asked. I giggled in response, knowing clearly where he was trying to take the conversation but seeing that he was doing so as subtly as possible.

 

“They don’t really mind what I wear…” I teased softly.

 

I could hear his breath catch as I said that before he continued to speak. “So what are you wearing?” he said a little bit more shyly than I had anticipated. He had always been so much more confident than me, but either was nervous or was trying to make sure I wasn’t nervous.

 

“Not what I would be wearing if you were here right now…”

 

Once again his breath was caught, and I smiled to myself. I guess was I was pretty good with words after all. “I wish I was there then,” he finally responded, in a deep, somewhat raspy and lustful voice.

 

“Me too,” I responded. I smiled, looking at myself in the mirror. I was wearing an old t-shirt and a pair of shorts, but I hadn’t actually told him that. “What about you?” I asked, mimicking his own question.

 

He was silent for a moment. I heard his breathing speed up and I realized what he was probably getting to on the other end. “Nothing,” he softly whispered. I couldn’t help but giggle as I heard that but I noticed his breath instantly change. “We don’t have to-“

 

“No!” I cut him off. I had never done this before, but I was excited to try something new. “I want to,” I smiled as I answered. His breathing returned to normal before speeding up as it had moments before. “I don’t really know what to…”

 

“Neither do I, but it’s ok baby.” I had a sort of sigh of relief when he said that. The fact that he was as inexperienced in this as I was made me feel a bit better. “I wish we were together right now.” He spoke into the phone.

 

And although he meant it to be completely seductive, it fully took the mood away from me. My breath caught in my throat a bit differently than I would have expected in this moment, as I began to sniffle up my feelings.

 

“Are you ok babe?” he asked concerned, once again putting me in front of his desires.

 

“Yeah I just…” I took a deep and shaky breath before continuing, “I miss you. I’m so alone here.”

 

“Sh, baby, it’s ok. We’re going to be together again tomorrow. It’s so close.” I grinned into the phone, thankful that he was so willing to put my emotions in front of his own boyish hormones.

 

“Babe, go take care of yourself in the bathroom, I’ll be fine.” I giggled a bit.

 

“Are you sure Ely? You know I love you, right?” he asked with a huge sense of concern in his voice.

 

“I’m sure,” I said, taking a deep breath, “absolutely sure. I love you too.”


	25. Back In Norcal

Elysa’s POV

 

I walked down a terminal that I finally found partially familiar when I landed at SFO. Carrying my small, navy blue, drawstring bag on my back, I slightly limped my way down the long hallway, testing the strength of my leg. It seemed to be feeling fine, so I decided to put a normal amount of weight on it, smiling when I was able to walk normally.

With my leg feeling better, my next mission was to find Liam. My arrival was not a well known event, so I wasn’t expecting to see a lot of paparazzi, or the other boys. It would probably just be Liam and a driver to take us to the hotel. So as I walked past a large group of girls, I didn’t even think twice about it.

“Ely! Elysa!” I heard someone shout from where I had just come from. I instinctively turned around at the sound of my name to see Liam smiling dumbly.

“Liam! Liam!” The girls around him were shouting. But I didn’t even care. It amazed me how attached to Liam I had become in just a few short months as I reflected on the mere week without him that had seemed so horrible.

I took a few steps forward to be intercepted by Liam’s warm arms and muscular chest. I nestled my head into the warm spot that I loved so much as he squeezed me tightly.

“I missed you so much,” I whispered up to him. His head dropped to place a small kiss on the top of mine as he reciprocated the same feelings. “Never leave me again?” I half asked, half demanded. He chuckled a bit before agreeing and freeing me from his embrace.

“Come on, let’s go see the other lads,” he said, taking my hand in his. I smiled and followed his lead as the group of girls slowly subsided. We made our way to the car and sat together in the back seat as the driver began to move.

“Wait!” I shouted suddenly. Liam looked at me confused as I spoke to the driver. “Can we go somewhere else? Not to the hotel?” I looked up at the boy next to me and smiled as I gave the driver instructions to my house.

Liam’s POV

We arrived at Elysa’s house and I saw the familiar front door. I told the driver that he could leave and I would call Paul if we needed anything. There wasn’t a show tonight, and the interviews had been moved to earlier in the day in case Elysa’s flight had been late or delayed.

She pulled out her keys and swiftly opened the door. The house looked and smelled exactly as it had when we left it three months back. After she closed the door I took her hand back into mine and felt their softness on my own skin.

“I love you so much,” I blurted out of my mouth. I hadn’t even intended on saying it, it just sort of came out with all that I was feeling at the moment.

“I love you too,” she responded.

We stood there for a moment, unsure of exactly what to do or say to each other before I sighed deeply, hinting that maybe we should head to her bedroom. She seemed to understand the signal as we walked down the hallway to her room and sat on her bed.

I leaned in slowly to kiss her, but she pulled back.

“Liam, I’m sorry, I just…I can’t.” she looked away from me, not giving me a single chance to make eye contact with her.

“Ely look at me. What’s wrong baby?” I asked in a soft voice, but she didn’t respond. “Ely? Talk to me baby.” I said once more.

“I just…I don’t feel…”

I took a breath. I could tell from her expressions that this wasn’t just an “I’m not in the mood” moment, this was something more. And I could tell exactly what it was.

“Ely, I love you. I love everything about you, you know that, right?”

She waited a moment before responding. “Of course I know that Liam, it’s just, I don’t love me.” She spoke softly and timidly, still refusing to make eye contact.

“Babe, don’t even talk like that. I’m not allowing you to. Remember when we were on the phone last night?” I paused to watch her blush in reaction to the memory. “I called you because of how much I love you, which is more than I could ever promise.” She looked at me shyly from under her eyelashes and I smiled, trying to bring her normal sparkle back.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do it last night…” she told me. I could tell she felt honestly guilty.

“No, baby, don’t even say that. There are so many more important things, and you weren’t feeling it last night, and that’s ok.” I paused, remembering the night myself. She had finished by telling me to ‘take care of myself’, but I didn’t fulfill her demands. I could only think about her when I went to do that, and I couldn’t think of her when she was sad. It left me with a bit of trouble last night, but so far I had managed through it.

“I guess I should make it up to you then?” she asked. I got worried, it seemed as if saw this as something she owed me.

“You don’t have to make anything up to me. I just want you to be happy babe. I don’t know what’s making you feel off, but we can talk about it if you want?”

Elysa’s POV

For some reason, just seeing how much Liam cared about put the thoughts about my body into the back of my mind. Seeing him care about me just made me want to make him as happy as I possibly could. And honestly, I knew it would make me feel better and happy as well.

“We don’t have to talk,” I said softly, before crashing my lips onto his.

I could tell by his reaction that he was not expecting it at all, but he eventually relaxed. I moved my hand and placed it up on his arm to feel closer to him, and he took his and used it hold my face. Our kiss deepened as his tongue asked for access within my mouth, and I agreed to let it in. My hands were now madly exploring his body, remembering the magic that existed between us and smiling a bit into his mouth.

Liam noticed my change of emotion and let his own hands explore my body. I felt a bit awkward at first, but then remembering that it was Liam, remembering how much he said he loved me and how much I knew I loved him, I relaxed. His hands made their way to the bottom of my shirt, where they started to lift up. I took a deep breath, knowing exactly what was happening, and agreeing to it.

Our lips broke for only a moment before they, and our hands, were touching again. There was a hunger in the way that Liam was going about things today, but he still managed to maintain the passion, love, and care that he usually had that made me feel so incredibly special every time we touched.

Soon, most of our clothing was discarded. For the first time in my life I was laying in my bed, in my room, with a boy, naked. Liam got up from his spot and searched through his wallet before pulling out a small package.

“You have a good one this time?” I teased him.

He smiled back at me. “You only make that mistake once Ely.” He chuckled. “Harry picked up a new box for me the next day.” I smiled in response as he made his way back to the bed and ripped open the small package. I watched as he placed it on his dick, which had been growing hard for some time.

He made eye contact with me after noticing my staring, and gave me a smirk before finishing what he was doing. He lifted his body over me, positioning himself at my opening.

“Ready?” he asked looking into my eyes. I nodded, moving my hands to almost brace myself. This had only happened once before, and it started out with so much pain that time that I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I felt him entering me. I gasped, feeling a slight pain, though not nearly as bad as the first time.

“Ely?” he asked, alarmed.

“No, keep going, you caught me off guard,” I replied, determined to make it work. I had missed him so much. It made me realize that I shouldn't be afraid to give myself to Liam, and let him give himself to me. 

He buried his face in my neck, kissing my neck as he slowly thrust inside of me. I reached my arms around his strong, warm back, digging slightly into his skin. He moaned in pleasure as I raked my nails down his back. My hands explored his sides, then his chest, running along the little creases and hairs.

Liam readjusted himself, thrusting harder as his tongue started exploring my breasts. I gripped the sheets and let out a low moan. He glanced up, smiling evilly at me. I grabbed his face and pulled it up towards me, crashing my lips against his. Out of breath, Liam kissed me back sloppily, greedily.

“Oh, I’m close,” he moaned. “Ely.”

I bit down on my lip hard, not sure if I should cry out or not. But I couldn’t help it. Suddenly, I felt him release as I hit my climax as well. He collapsed onto me before removing himself slowly and rolling over. Our sweat smeared together as we both panted, trying to catch our breaths and failing miserably.

The entire experience was magical, even more magical than the first time if that was even possible. I rolled over into Liam’s arms as both caught our breaths, exhausted from the exhilaration. I turned to look at up him, still breathing deeply, before I giggled to myself a bit.

“What?” he asked curiously.

“I just had sex with Liam Payne. Do you know how many girls are jealous of me right now?” I continued to laugh as I reflected on that sentence to myself. Never in my life did I think this would ever happen when I sent that letter to the band back in May. And here I was, laying in bed, with Liam Payne, naked and out of breath. I just couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face.


	26. IN-N-OUT IN SAN JOSE

Elysa’s POV

 

Even the next day I was in a state of euphoria. I sat backstage of the show in San Jose thinking to myself about how much I loved Liam, how much I loved last night, and how jealous of me those girls out there would be if they only knew. I felt horribly to have made Liam wait so long to get what we both knew his body needed and craved. And with that knowledge, I felt my own body starting to crave the same thing.

I sighed as I smiled and listened to the boys perform on stage. They were really in their element out there, as if nothing could stop them from doing an amazing job. These boys had gone through so much just to be out there, and every single one of the cheers that they heard from the fans meant almost as much to me as I’m sure it meant to them.

As the next short break in their show arrived, and the boys ran off stage, I rushed up to Liam and gave him the biggest hug I could muster up. He was sweaty, clammy, stinky, and gross, but it didn’t matter. He looked beautiful in his plaid shirt holding a microphone. He paused for a moment to kiss my cheek before he rushed off towards the other boys and their dressing room.

I sat and looked at my phone which was plugged in by the red couch that now held many memories. The first text was from Zach. Liam had gotten him a VIP ticket to the show so that we could hang out, but he had cross country practice well into the first set. He was going to meet us after the show at the In-N-Out which the boys agreed to go.

We talked for a while before the show ended and the boys changed into their regular clothes. The fans outside weren’t too crazy and it was pretty easy to get into the car. The difficult part was hiding where we were going. They all knew which hotel the boys were staying at, and they all knew about my favorite In-N-Out since the last time they were here. Miraculously, we made it with minimal paparazzi following our way.

After we all ordered our food, I saw Zach walk in through the door. A huge smile erupted on his face which I’m sure was mimicked by my own as I left Liam’s side to run up and hug him. I felt badly after realizing that I had essentially just abandoned Liam for another boy, but I put my faith in his knowledge that there was nothing going on between Zach and me. He was simply my best friend, and I had missed him since only seeing him for two days.

The boys pulled up another table and some more chairs to the table that they were already occupying so that all seven of us, plus Paul, could fit together. We sat enjoying our burgers and milkshakes and animal-style fries, laughing about nothing and getting caught up on the world that I had left behind.

“Cross country is going SO well dude,” Zach tried to tell me through his huge bite of a double-double. “I’m the fasted kid in the school by far.” I smiled and congratulated him as he told me about his various wins in races so far this year, but the other boys looked sort of bored.

And then, as if on cue to end the boredom, none other than Sam walked through the door, looking slightly lost until he made eye contact with me. I reacted by nearly jumping in my seat. One hand grabbed onto Liam while the other almost slapped Zach in the face. Of course I felt horrible for both reactions but I didn’t know what to do. The whole table turned their heads and saw Sam, making him suddenly uncomfortable as he walked over.

“Uh hey, Elysa, can we talk?” he asked me nervously. I took a deep breath, swallowing the dry air in the process. I looked over to Liam, then to Zach, then to the other boys. Their reactions were all null, not giving me any help at all.

“Um, sure,” I gave in and stood up, receiving a squeeze on my hand from Liam and an encouraging look from the other boys and Zach.

Sam and I walked over to an empty table nearby and sat down. It was awkward at first, silent, neither of us wanting to make eye contact or start the conversation. Finally, he seemed to remember why he had come to find me.

“I want you to come back home. Live with me. Brooke and I broke up and I realized that you need me so much more than she ever did. You’re my baby sister and it’s my job to take care of you.”

I was in shock by what he was saying to me. The words flowed out of my mouth without consulting my brain first, or so it seemed.

“Liam is taking care of me. And the other boys, and Paul. I don’t need you. You left me, why would anyone think that you wouldn’t do it again?” My words were harsh and I realized it after I had said them. One part of me felt badly that I had dug into my brother so much, but the other part told me that he deserved it.

“Liam?” he was completely taken aback and defensive at this point. “Liam has known you for like six months. I’ve known you your entire life. It’s my job to take care of you, not his. It’s his job to, I don’t even know because you are too young for such a serious relationship anyway!”

“Liam is better at taking care of me than you’ve ever been!” I lashed back out at him. “I love him and he loves me, and that’s more than I can say about you! You left me Sam! Mom and Dad left us, US, and then YOU left too! Liam has never left me! He knows when something’s wrong before I know it!”

I could feel my eyes tearing up and I got scared of what my anger might bring. I looked back at the other table and saw that the boys were all trying to distract themselves from our very loud disagreement.

“Even Zach cares about me more than you do. I didn’t talk to him all summer and when school started he still cared about me just as much as he did before.” I took a breath, trying to catch my thoughts in one place for the first time. “Sam, you’ve been a horrible brother while those boys over there have been everything to me.”

That was it; I could feel the tears start to trickle down my cheeks. I never cried, not in public anyways, and not around my brother. When we were little, I would start crying and he would throw a fit, he hated it. And as I got older and started to idolize him, I didn’t want to do anything to upset him. But that was different now. At least it seemed like it should be. I had just spent the last few months being angry at him, I just lashed everything out at him, yet I still didn’t want to upset him by crying. I think I must have realized that under all of that, he was still my brother and I still loved him. And then I understood why he came here to talk to me.

But it was too late. He had gotten up and started to leave the building. “Wait, Sam!” I chased after him. “I’m sorry!”

He turned around. It was slow and dramatic, like a scene out of a movie. I wiped the tears from my face and tried to catch my breath again as I looked at him apologetically.

“Elysa, it’s ok. You’re right. I’m a horrible brother.”

I stood there, dumbstruck. “No Sam, I was just, I just…” I couldn’t put the words together in my head let alone make them come out of my mouth. “I still love you Sam, you’re my big brother!” I called out at him as he tried to leave the building. That made him turn around and walk back towards me.

“And you’re still my baby sister. And my job is to make sure you are taken care of, and you were right, I’m not the person to be taking care of you.”

 

Liam’s POV

 

The conversation had taken a nasty turn fairly quickly. I selfishly was a bit grateful for that too, because being with Zach without Elysa was more awkward than I would have liked. But when their voices began to rise and I heard Ely’s crack a bit, signaling that she was about to cry, I knew that my selfish side would have to go.

The lads and I watched alongside Paul and Zach as the whole scene played out. I felt horrible that I had let this happen. I shouldn’t have let Ely stand up and talk to Sam without me. I never should have let that happen. When Sam finally walked out the door, I rushed up to her.

“Sh, Ely, everything will be ok.” I whispered into her ear as I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind. I quickly realized that she had gone a bit weak. She must have been in some sort of a daze from the drama that happened, because she didn’t get in fights very often and I knew that her brother, on the inside, meant the world to her.

“Come on Ely, let’s go back to the hotel,” I said just loud enough for the rest of the group to hear. Chairs quickly squeaked as they all got up from their seats. Niall finished off his burger quickly while the rest of the group just became complacent and understood that food was no longer a priority. We had to get Elysa out of there and into a bed somewhere to calm down and figure things out.

She was silent the entire car ride back to the hotel. It was lucky that there were very few fans when we arrived. She was able to keep her head down and walk in without much of an issue. The boys and I smiled and said hi so as to make sure they didn’t sense that something strange was going on. Elysa’s life was not for everyone to know about; especially when it was something like this. I didn’t want a replay of the interview in New York where I had to carry her off the set.

We finally made it to our room. Paul gave us some space but the other boys came in with us. Zach was still with us as well. He had an easy time getting into the hotel because no one thought he was a fan or a part of the band so he just sort of walked in front of the rest of us.

Elysa lay down on the bed, sinking into the pillow top mattress and fluffy white sheets. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment before opening them back up. Finally, she spoke a bit.

“I messed up, didn’t I?” she asked the space around her. We all made awkward eye contact with each other, refusing to answer her. “I did. I ruined any chance of fixing things with my brother. And Zach is probably making you feel awkward Li, and the rest of you boys are probably confused too…” she trailed off, closing her eyes tightly again. I was about to say something, but Zach stepped forward instead.

“El, listen to me. You didn’t make anything awkward. I love you and Liam loves you and that’s what matters.”

Hearing someone else say that they loved Ely felt strange. I knew he didn’t mean it in the same way that I did, but it was still unnerving. He stepped back, looking at me for approval. I nodded, ignoring my strange feelings. What was important right now was Ely.

“Do you want me to leave so you and Zach can talk?” I asked. I wasn’t sure what she would be able to tell him that she couldn’t tell me, but I wanted to give her the option regardless. She shook her head no and I breathed a bit of a relief.

“Do yeh want us ta leave?” Niall asked from the other side of the bed. I felt badly, knowing that she was about to say yes.

“I just…there’s too many people at once…” she explained. The lads nodded their heads, each giving Ely a sympathetic look or hug or squeeze on their way out.

“Let oohz know if you wanna talk,” Harry said on his way out of the door. Suddenly, it was only Ely, Zach, and me in the room.


	27. HONESTY IN A SAN JOSE HOTEL ROOM

Elysa’s POV

 

I was laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling and trying to avoid eye contact. If I could chose the three people who meant the most to me in this world it would easily be Liam, Zach and Sam. And here I was, with Liam and Zach, crying over a fight I had with Sam.

 

Neither boy knew what to say, and neither did I. We sat there, staring around the room, silent, awkward. Finally, Zach spoke up.

 

“Elysa,” He started softly, but I shook my head to stop him.

 

I didn’t really want to know what he had to say. I had things to say and I needed to figure out how to get it out of my mouth.

 

“I know, I know. You love Sam, and he still loves you, trust me. Remember in eighth grade when you always fought with each other?” I nodded my head and made eye contact with my best friend for the first time as he continued to recount a really difficult time in my life. “Well remember at open house that year? When you fell off of the amphitheater?” I continued to nod, remembering my adventurous middle school days where we would climb on the roof with no fear. “Well I didn’t even notice you fall, but your brother ran across the entire school to make sure you were ok.”

 

I smiled, realizing what he was trying to say to me. My brother really did love me, even when he told me he hated me, deep down he loved me, just like I loved him. He was my big brother, and I was his baby sister, and at the end of the day we were really the only family that each other had anymore and we had to hold on to that, and I knew that he knew this too.

 

“Ely,” I turned to Liam, “I have never seen you talk about anyone like you talk about your brother. I know you love him. And I know he loves you still, trust me.” He told me, his voice weakening. I nodded and smiled.

 

“I just love him so much, I don’t want to ruin anything,” I said in shaky words. I looked up at the two boys who I knew felt awkward around each other but loved me enough to put that aside. “Can I tell you something?” I asked in a whisper, knowing the answer. Both of them nodded and I took a deep breath.

 

They both knew a lot about me, a lot about the parts of my life that no one else in the world knew. But neither of them knew the whole story, and I realized that it was time they both knew. So I started talking, and although I was shaky at first, once I began it was difficult to stop. I told them everything, about what the doctors told me in fifth grade, about how I haven’t been able to get my meds because I didn’t have a legal guardian to get the prescription for me. And then I lifted up the lower hem of my shirt and showed them both my hip. It was marked with very faint scars, which my voice faltered while explaining. Both began to tear up before I finished explaining things to them.

 

“…and yeah. I just…I don’t know what I’ll do without Sam.” I stopped and looked up at Zach and Liam. I had just poured literally everything out to them. And they both knew exactly what I was feeling. “I’m just scared that I’ll…” I stopped, unable to finish the sentence.

 

“I am too,” Liam rubbed my cheek as he allowed me to finish speaking. “I love you so much Ely,” he told me through a broken voice. I smiled up at him, my eyes slightly watering as I repeated his last statement.

 

“If anything happens dude, you tell me right away, ok?” Zach made me promise him. The last thing I wanted was to relapse. “I’ve seen you at your worst and I never want to see that again. Don’t go back to eighth grade.” I nodded in conformation.

 

It was silent for another moment as I looked up into both of the boys’ eyes. I could feel how much they cared about me just in the way they looked at me, and I really appreciated that.

 

“Give it a couple of days, then before you leave here go talk to your brother.” Zach instructed me. I nodded and looked at Liam for confirmation and he too nodded. I let out a long breath, almost a sigh of relief, as I wiped my tears away from my eyes.

 

“What do you want me to tell the other lads?” Liam asked suddenly. I paused, forgetting about the other boys’ existences. I loved them all so much but this wasn’t something that I could just throw onto people like that. If I was going to tell them, I needed to tell them myself, after more time passed, and when the time was right.

 

“Just tell them I’ll be ok.” I told him. Liam nodded accepting my decision and kissed me softly on my forehead before going towards the door.

 

Liam’s POV

 

I walked out of the hotel room and took a few deep breaths, only able to make my feet move one in front of the other because I knew I couldn’t stop in the middle of the hall. My eyes were beginning to fill with water and it took all my will power not to start bawling in the middle of everything.

 

I finally made it to Niall’s room and I knocked softly. When he opened the door I burst towards him and took him in an embrace. He quickly reciprocated, giving me the Horan hug that I needed. My breath kept catching my throat but Ely had told me to tell the boys that she was going to be ok. It was her life and I couldn’t just tell anyone I wanted without her consent.

 

Eventually, Niall and I let go of each other and I walked further into the room and sat on the couch. He sat down next to me and looked at me with his concerned eyes. He might be oblivious sometimes, but he wasn’t stupid. He was far from it. If I had given him the option, he probably would have guessed almost exactly what Ely told Zach and I. But he was also smart enough to know that he shouldn’t.

 

I gathered my thoughts along with my breath and let him know that she was going to be just fine. He smiled at me and hugged me again. “I just love her so much Ni, so much. And I know Sam does too, and it kills me to see her like this.” Niall just looked at me, knowing that nothing he could say would make me feel any different or better.

 

“She said to tell us that she was fine?” he asked me softly. I nodded in confirmation. “Then she will be fine,” he said with a deep breath. “Want me to call the other lads over?”

 

He walked over to his phone and texted the boys quickly. It was late at night at this point, and with all the travel we had been doing our internal clocks were completely messed up. I wasn’t sure if they would be awake. After a few minutes of waiting for a response, Niall and I decided that they must be asleep.

 

“Go back to Elysa, mate. She needs you right now,” he told me, giving me one more Horan hug. I thanked him before heading out of his room and back to mine and Ely’s.

 

Elysa’s POV

 

I looked up at Zach, we were now alone in the room. I sat up to be even with him in eye level and he gave me a giant hug as soon as he could. I smiled into the embrace. He always gave me the best hugs.

 

But when he let go, his eyes looked into mine in a way that I was not expecting. “Elysa, I need to ask you something,” he stated. He seemed really worried about something so I nodded quickly. “Elysa, is Liam hurting you?” I was baffled. Zach had fallen victim to the media and honestly believed that my leg cast was due to something that Liam might have done.

 

“No.” I stated it quickly, strongly, and directly.

 

“Are you sure? Elysa, I need you to be completely honest with me.” He said again.

 

“Liam did nothing. You must have seen that interview…” I trailed off, but Zach nodded telling me to continue. “We were in Australia and Louis wanted to go surfing. I went with them and I fell really badly. I didn’t even want to go to the hospital but Liam made me. I bruised one of my bones but that was it. Liam didn’t do anything wrong, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have gone to the hospital or anything and it could have been a lot worse. I promise, Liam is not hurting me.” I told him confidently, not breaking eye contact.

 

After a moment of soaking my words Zach nodded. “Ok, I believe you,” he said with a small pause before giving me a slight smirk, “But don’t forget, I know how to tell when you’re lying,” he teased me. I nudged him on the arm and he pushed me back a bit.

 

“Zach, if anything was happening, I would tell you,” I assured him, and he nodded. “But it’s really late and I usually go to bed-“

 

“At 9:30, I know,” he cut me off. I chuckled, remembering how much he knew about me.

 

“Ok so go into the bathroom and wait till I tell you that you can come out, I need to change and go to bed.”

He sighed and walked in the direction that I had pointed. “How am I supposed to get home anyway?”

 

I was silent for a moment; I hadn’t thought of that. It was too late for him to be able to drive or anything or for it to be safe for him to take public transportation.

 

“Um, well they gave us two beds and I always cuddle with Liam anyway, when he comes back we can ask if you can just crash on the extra one I guess.” He nodded as he walked off.

 

I was midway through changing when Liam walked back in the room. His eyes were puffy and the sound of his voice told me he had been crying, but the cheeky boy was still a boy. “I like what I see,” he teased as he came up behind me and kissed my neck. I giggled before pushing him away and putting my comfy clothes on to sleep in.

 

“Zach, you can come out now!” I shouted across the room. Liam’s face dropped a bit, probably upset over the fact that he was still here, that he had to share me with my best friend, but I knew he would get over it. “Oh,” I turned to Liam, remembering the conversation that I had just had with Zach, “it’s really late, so can Zach crash on the extra bed?”

 

Liam seemed a bit apprehensive, but eventually shrugged and agreed. I walked over to him and hugged him tightly, knowing he needed it for a lot of different reasons. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t get to cuddle with me,” I whispered into his ears. He kissed the top of my head in affirmation that he was ok.

 

After we all made our way to our respective beds and turned off the lights, I turned to face Liam. I whispered into his ear quietly so that Zach couldn’t hear, “I love you,” I told him. I felt him smile into my neck before he kissed it lightly.

 

“I love you too,” he paused and took a deep breath. I thought he was about to drift off to sleep, but he surprised me with some words. “I have the day off tomorrow. We can do whatever you want,” he smiled and I kissed him back. I already had so many ideas of what we could do together.

 

“Get a room!” Zach yelled teasingly from the other bed.

 

I giggled before responding, “This IS our room!”

 

He groaned and turned over, and I cuddled in closer to Liam, engulfed by his arms. My face held a strong smile that I suspect was present the entire time that I was sleeping.


	28. A Better Day in Berkeley

Liam’s POV

 

I awoke the most beautiful sight I had ever seen; Ely my arms, fast asleep and hair sprawled across the pillow. Although I woke to it most mornings now, it was something that I could never completely get used to; the fact that the girl of my dreams was laying in my arms all night. It took all my will power not to kiss her then and there, but I knew that she must be exhausted from not only the travel, but all of the emotion that happened last night.

 

It was then that I heard some movement from the extra bed and remembered that Zach was still there. I looked over and saw as he sat up, turned to me, and smiled. I smiled back before carefully releasing Ely from my arms so that I could walk over to him. I didn’t want her to wake, so it was a bit a slow process.

 

When she was finally free of my restraint, I stood up and walked over to Zach. I nodded to the door and he followed me as we sat outside of the room. I figured he and I needed to talk a bit, it wasn’t fair to Ely for us to be this awkward around each other for so long.

 

“How’d you sleep, mate?” I asked in a quiet tone once the door was closed.

 

“Not bad, not bad.” He responded similarly.

 

It was silent and awkward for a moment, just as it always seemed to be when we were together. Then we both tried to break the silence at the same time “look,” we said in unison. Both of us chuckled a bit before I continued.

 

“I know you and Ely have a really special friendship, and I don’t want to get in the way of that. It’s just…” I trailed a bit, but Zach seemed to understand my sentiment.

 

“I know. It’s weird for me too. I’ve known her forever and she’s never had a boyfriend. It’s weird to see her be affectionate. But dude, I know she needs you and I know she loves you. I just need to get used to it is all.” He looked right as me as he spoke and I smiled back.

 

“It’s the same thing. All summer it was just Ely and I, and I need to remember that she had an entire life going before I met her. If I ever overstep, let me know, ok mate?” I looked at him as I asked.

 

“Of course dude,” he responded.

 

We embraced in a short hug before walking back into the room quietly so as not to disturb Ely from her sleep. I smiled as I saw her there, breathing deeply and in a world of blissful dreaming. I just wanted the best for her, and hopefully after talking to Zach it would be easier.

 

“Oh, dude,” Zach whispered to me, pulling me out of my trance. “I think you and Elysa should spend the day doing something really fun. In middle school I used to make her walk downtown with me or climb on the roof after she had a bad day, but I think she needs you more than she needs me right now.”

 

I smiled, grateful for the tip he had given me. “I told her last night that we could do whatever she wanted today, we have the day off and then a show in Oakland tomorrow.”

 

Zach’s face lit up as I told him that, as if a light bulb was actually going off with an idea in his brain. “Dude!” he spoke a little more loudly than he should have considering that we were in the room with Elysa sleeping. He realized his mistake quickly and quieted down before he continued. “Take her to Berkeley. It’s Saturday so I bet there’s a football game, she’d absolutely love it!”

 

“American football?” I questioned. I knew almost nothing about the sport, but I knew Zach was right about Ely loving it. She talked about it all summer, the way her family used to have season tickets and go to games. “Is her team in Berkeley?” I questioned him.

 

He chuckled a bit, “yeah dude, Cal, it’s her dream school. She’d have a blast showing you around and teaching you about the game.” He paused for a moment to think through his suggestions some more, “I think you should bring the rest of the boys too. And you wouldn’t have to worry about fans or anything, the people that will be there are not exactly the type that follow you guys,” he almost teased me a bit with the last statement, so I smiled along with him, although unsure of exactly what kind of people he was insinuating would be at the football game.

 

“Ok mate, I’ll see what she says when she wakes up.” I paused to look back at her in bed again, still resting peacefully as Zach and I basically planned out our day. “Do you need a ride home?” I asked him quietly.

 

“Nawh dude, I’ll take a bus. It’s like a dollar and the stop is a block from my house.” He paused for a moment as well, looking over as his best friend sleeping. “I think I should leave before she gets up, let her spend the entire day with you.”

 

“You sure mate?” I asked him. As excited as I was to have Ely all to myself, I meant what I said about not wanting to ruin their friendship.

 

“Of course dude. Y’all go have fun, tell her to text me if she needs anything.” He smiled as he grabbed his phone off of the bed side table where it had been resting for the night. He then turned to me before walking out of the door, “oh, let me give you my number.” He walked up to me and I handed him my iPhone. He entered his information in case Ely ever needed him and didn’t have a way to reach him. “Do you have Sam’s info?” he asked me. I thought for a moment before shaking my head. It had taken me until now to realize that for some reason I didn’t. He gave me Sam’s phone number and email, which he surprisingly had memorized. “Elysa doesn’t know this but I talk to him a lot when she’s not doing so well like this. I figured you might want to contact him if anything happens.” He smiled before giving me my phone back and walking out the hotel room door.

 

I looked back at Elysa, who was sleeping peacefully still. I decided to crawl back into the bed and hold her my arms, just to feel that she was really there and I wasn’t dreaming. Although to be honest it would be a very strange dream to have such strong emotions about how much I love her combined with the nightmare of what she spoke about last night.

 

As I tried to cuddle with her, my actions backfired on me and she awoke, groggy as usual. I kissed her head to let her know that I was still here holding her and not to worry and I hoped that it would help her go back to sleep.

 

Elysa’s POV

 

I felt a warm body pulling me in as I began to wake up. He kissed me on the head and I was relieved to know that it was Liam and he was still there, holding me tightly. I smiled as I turned around; eyes still closed and kissed him back. I could imagine how his eyes would be sparkling, but I was too engrossed in sleepiness to see them.

 

“Zach left a bit ago, it’s just you and me today Ely,” he spoke softly into my ear.

 

I finally let my eyes open up to the room around me. Liam looked as if he had been awake for some time; however his eyes still sparkled as they did every morning with the light of the sun outside reflecting off of them. I turned over to look at the extra bed, confirming what he had said about Zach leaving.

 

“Is he ok to get home?” I asked sleepily. Although he was the type of best friend that often took care of me, I of course worried about him as well.

 

“He said something about a bus near his house I think.” Liam told me softly.

 

I smiled. “Good,” before tucking myself back into the blankets around me.

 

Liam only chuckled a bit before pulling me in close to him. My head found the warm spot on his chest that I loved as I wiggled around to get comfortable again.

 

“I don’t think you’ll want to go back to sleep, love,” he told me through his smile.

 

“Why?” I asked, only slightly interested in anything that didn’t involve sleep.

 

“Because I’m taking you to Berkeley today.” He paused as if to gage my reaction, but I did a pretty good job of hiding my excitement through my tiredness. “For an American Football game,” he finished.

 

A huge smile spread over my face as I thought about the countless games I had been to. I knew he must have talked to Zach before he left because there was no other way he would have thought to take me there on his day off. I knew in my mind that it would be perfect. I could teach him, and the other boys if he decided to bring them along, how to buy tickets from a scalper, how to get into a stadium, enough about the game of football to understand when to cheer, why they should never wear red to a Cal football game, and I could even tell them stories about me growing up in that very stadium.

 

I jumped out of my bed and started to dig into my suit case. Liam’s lips turned into a smirk as he chuckled a bit at my sudden change in energy and attention. Of course, I had plenty of Cal shirts, but I was looking for my favorite. Well, one of my favorites.

I chose the one that was a hand me down from my brother. It was faded and had two small bleach stains at the bottom on the back. When he first gave it to me, the shirt was too big and the stains nearly reached my butt. But now it fit pretty well. After I found it I threw it on over my head and displayed it to Liam, who only laughed at my excitement.

 

“We’ll get you a shirt when we get there,” I told him as I walked past him to my computer.

 

“What are you doing Ely?”

 

I sighed as I opened up my computer in front of me. “I’m checking who we’re playing against and what time the game is. I know we’re home this week but…” I trailed off as my focus turned to the screen that had lit up.

 

“Alright,” he spoke through his smile, “I’ll go let the other lads know what the plan is.”

 

My head immediately popped up from behind my screen. “The other boys are coming? This is going to be so much fun!” I could barely even hold in my excitement anymore. “I’m gonna find some good websites for y’all to read so I don’t have to explain too much.” I paused, waiting for the page in front of me to load and tell me what time the game was going to be and against whom.

 

“Alright Ely, you do that,” Liam teased while scrolling through his phone. I assumed he was looking for the other boys’ phone numbers as I let out a noise that barely sounded human due to my excitement. “What is it?” He seemed concerned but I almost laughed at him.

 

“It’s Big Game Liam! Big Game!” He looked at me with a completely blank expression. “We’re playing Stanford, our biggest rival! It’s a really big deal. It’s going to be so much fun! I’ll teach you how to buy tickets from scalpers and we can go to Top Dog for lunch, and ahh!”


	29. Worrying in Oakland

Elysa’s POV

My eyes slowly fluttered open and I became aware of what was around me. The soft blankets of the hotel here in Oakland, Liam’s arms around me, and the Cal shirt that I had apparently been too exhausted to take off before going to sleep last night. I smiled to myself as I rolled over to face the sleeping boy next me. I had become an expert at maneuvering myself within his restraints without waking him.

I looked at his eyes as sighed to myself. Even closed I could tell they were ready to sparkle. His perfect pink lips were resting against each other with ease, just waiting to be kissed. I couldn’t hold myself back any longer as I moved myself even closer to him and connected my somewhat chapped lips to his own perfect, warm ones.

He slowly woke up, learning to kiss back without even opening his eyes. He smiled a bit before finally pulling away just a bit. I could feel his breath just moments from my face, lingering, teasing me. His eyes were still closed but he knew what he was doing to me as the corners of his mouth curved up into a smirk.

“Did you have fun yesterday?” I asked him softly.

Liam simply nodded before moving towards me and closing the space between us again. His kiss felt warm and comforting early in the morning.

“I had fun because you had fun,” he whispered into my mouth.

I blushed a bit as he slowly opened his eyes. The beautiful sparkle that I had predicted was indeed there and staring into my own dull eyes. I tried to look away, but realizing I would be missing out on a moment that could be spent focusing on Liam’s face, I looked back.

“You were right by the way,” he told me with a smile. I looked back at him questioningly. “You are an excellent driver,” he stated before kissing me sweetly on the check.

We lay there for a few minutes, just soaking up the morning, each other’s warmth, the happiness hangover from the football game the night before. It was a special kind of bliss that I enjoyed having with Liam after we woke up in the mornings.

“What time is sound check?” I finally asked after my mind began to race to all ends of the earth.

“I have to be ready to go in an hour,” he sighed to me.

Liam rolled over and grabbed his phone from its charger. I watched as his fingers skillfully scrolled through pages and pages of texts, calls, apps, and more, before sighing to myself and picking up my own phone. I wasn’t expecting anything in the way of messages, so when I saw I had three I got excited. But when I saw they were from my brother, my mood seemed to change, and Liam noticed right away.

“What’s wrong love?” He asked me.

I sighed, not knowing exactly how to answer. Instead I just showed him my phone. Sam had sent messages asking if we could spend the day together. He said he wanted to fix things. I wanted nothing more than to fix things between him and me, but I was a bit scared that I might say or do something stupid to lose again.

Liam’s face looked rather quizzical as he studied the messages. He seemed to be thinking things through before saying anything, as if he could accidentally say something wrong. But there was nothing for him to say really, we both knew what I was going to do.

Liam’s POV

My mind was in a different place the entire time that we were at the sound check. With Ely off with her brother, I couldn’t help but worry. What if her GPS got her lost? What if he said something that hurt her again? What if she felt the way that she did the other night and I wasn’t there? I felt completely lost and hopeless.

I texted her a few times during the day to make sure that she was ok, but the responses I got were short. It was unlike her. Either she was having a blast bonding again with her brother, or something really horrible was happening. The lads noticed that I was like this too.

The five of us were sitting backstage together about an hour before the show. It was quiet and awkward for a bit, but Louis finally broke the silence simply by snatching my phone out of my hands. I had been checking it every few seconds to see if there was anything from Ely, but there never was. The thought of her out in the world without me terrified me every time I thought about it.

“Mate, you need to relax,” he told me with a hand on my back. I responded only by looking at him crossly.

“He right Liam. She’s fine,” Zayn told me from across the room.

I took a deep breath, unsure of what to say or do next. Of course the lads had been there when Ely had the fight with Sam at In N Out, and they had helped me get her to our hotel room, but they had left before she told me what was really bothering her. I wanted so badly to tell them, but I knew it wouldn’t be fair. I couldn’t burden them with something like this, especially not just before a show. And I couldn’t spill Ely’s secrets without her consent.

I felt Niall’s warm hand rub along my back in support and I took another deep breath. I tried to take the support that the lads were giving to me, but it was difficult. The silence continued for a bit as there was nothing more any of us could really say to each other on the subject.

Suddenly, Paul walked into the room, nose buried in his clipboard as usual. I knew he would be worrying about Ely as well, but he was doing a much better job of hiding those feels than I was.

“Time for some interviews boys,” he said without even looking up. We all sighed and followed his lead to the various reporters, radio stations, and screaming fans awaiting us.

Elysa’s POV

Driving from Oakland back to the other side of the bay was stressful yet relaxing. I hated the traffic in the east bay, but being behind the wheel always helped me to breathe easier. I played my favorite songs in the car as I made my journey to meet my brother at the house.

I finally arrived after turning down the last few familiar roads. I didn’t see his car outside, so I assumed that he hadn’t arrived yet. My key fit into the doorknob perfectly as always and I turned it a bit to the right only to notice that it was already unlocked. I started to panic before opening the door and seeing Sam sitting right inside.

I let out the breath that had been caught in my throat by the thought that someone else was in the house and my face turned to give him a negative glance. His large smile sprawled across his face quickly went down into a knowing frown.

“Sam, don’t scare me like that!” I shouted at him once I had finally closed the door behind me. After a moment, I knew there something else that I was missing. “Where’s your car?” I asked him slowly.

I watched as he took a deep breath and looked down at the ground. I walked towards him, suddenly feeling as if I was the older sibling needing to take care of him. I sat down next to him on the couch and I knew immediately from the look in his eyes that something had happened and he was trying to keep it from me.

“I crashed it and I don’t have the money to fix it.”

“What about Brooke?” I was confused. “Isn’t she rich?”

The look that he gave me told me everything that he wasn’t telling me. Brooke had broken up with him. I looked around the house and realized that it looked more lived in than the last time I had been here even though it was only a few days ago.

“When…?” I asked him softly.

I watched as my brother took a deep breath, trying to come to terms with a major change in his life. “Yesterday.” He paused to look up at me sincerely before continuing, “Because of you.”

I was baffled and confused. We sat there for an hour as I coaxed the truth out of him. Brooke wasn’t really in it for Sam, he was in it to try and get close to Liam. When I didn’t offer them tickets to the show the other day, she decided that she had had enough.

I felt absolutely horrible for being part of the reason that this happened. But when I tried to express that to Sam, he took the blame onto himself, apologizing for letting a girl get the best of both of us. We sat there together; siblings united by a horrible experience, but united none the less.

I looked around the house remembering how it was when we were little, but I shook the images out of my mind. Just in time, Sam spoke up with an idea. 

“I thought we could go to the basketball game today,” he said out of nowhere.

“At school? I haven’t been back there in so long though…” I sighed, remembering my horrible two days at school before the district decided to put me on independent study, which honestly I hadn’t been doing a very good job of.

“Yeah, I thought it could be fun. No one will be expecting it, they’ll think you’re with Liam in Oakland tonight.”

“But,” I tried to think of a good excuse, “no one there likes me, remember? Zach doesn’t go to basketball games,” I reminded him.

Sam sighed before making eye contact with me and grabbing my shoulders. “Elysa, we’re going. Give me your car keys.” He demanded from me.

“It’s my car!”

“I’m your older brother! I can’t let my baby sister drive me around!” I laughed at him as I handed over my keys. Honestly, it was just as comforting to sit in the passenger seat of my car with Sam’s crazy driving as it was to drive the car myself.

Liam’s POV

By the time the show was over, I was in a state of emotion that I had never been in before. The exhilaration of performing combined with my concern for Elysa through my brain crazy. I raced to get back to the car so I could be reunited with Ely at the hotel.

When I finally got there I burst through the door, expecting to see her beautiful face standing calmly behind it. But she was nowhere to be seen. I paced the room a few times and counted the minutes. I tried to tell myself that she was ok, but the only things going through my mind were much more horrible than that.

After a while I stopped and took a breath. I remembered that Zach had given me his phone number and immediately scrolled through my contacts to find him. He didn’t answer. I began to panic even more than I knew was possible. Ever situation possible ran through my mind as I sat and waited.

Finally, after an hour of pacing and crying, screaming and punching pillows, I noticed the door begin to squeak open. I held my breath, knowing the only other person with a room key was Elysa, but still doubtful that she was actually there. When the door fully opened and I saw her face I ran up to her and squeezed her into a tight embrace.

“Don’t ever do this to me again,” I whispered into her ears. I didn’t want to let her go, the feeling of her in my arms still was not convincing me that she was actually there and safe.

“Do what?” she questioned.

I held the embrace for a few more moments before easing up a bit and allowing her to walk the rest of the way in the room. I closed the door and sat her down on the bed.

“You scared me Ely. What did you with Sam? Why are you so late?”

She giggled a bit but I gave her a slightly stern look. “We went to a high school basketball game. Everyone was actually pretty nice to me. Then we went to Panda Express and he paid for me even though I told him not to. We were talking a lot about family and about everything, and he has some really good leads on real tutors. He’s back living in the house so I’m gonna let him use my car but everything is great Liam.”

I looked into her eyes, unsure what to make of all of the information that she was telling me. It didn’t all make sense, but it was late and I figured that I was just tired.

We crawled into bed shortly after that and I held her tightly in my arms. I never wanted her to leave again.


	30. Bus Ride Through California

Liam’s POV

 

I woke up with my arms still wrapped carefully yet securely around Ely. She had seriously scared me by not coming back to the hotel until so late last night. And the horrible thoughts running through my head while I was waiting continued to scar my mind as I slept. Seeing her still there in my arms, helped to relax my nerves. I finally believed that she was, in fact, ok and safe, because I couldn’t see a safer place for her to be than in my arms.

I looked at what I was holding in my constraints and could only sigh. Ely looked so beautiful in the mornings, the way that her hair cascaded over her face and the pillows, the way her eye lids met lazily and her lips relaxed comfortably against one another. I was fully taken by her beauty for a while as I tried to wake my brain up.

Before I had a chance to kiss her and wake her up, a knock at the door caused her to stir. I kissed her head as I carefully let her go from my arms and walked to the door. Looking through the small hole I could see Paul, nose in his clipboard as always.

“Hey Paul,” I whispered as I opened the door. He looked over seeing that Ely was still laying in bed, eyes closed, breathing deeply, and understood.

“You know we’re loading the bus right now, right? Riding it all the way to L.A.” he informed me.

Honestly, I had completely forgotten about the plans for the day. I knew the shows up here were over, and L.A. was next, but I hadn’t quite made the connection in my head. My brain was too preoccupied last night to think about it. I thanked Paul for reminding me and lightly closed the door behind him, sighing as I walked back over to the bed.

“Ely,” I whispered into her ears, “wake up Ely. We have to get on the bus today.”

Her body stirred a bit, but not much as she began to wake. I kissed her lightly and felt her lips slowly curve up into a smile. Eventually, her lovely eyes were opened and sparkling as they always were in the mornings.

The morning went by slowly and lazily as we loaded onto the bus. Not many fans were outside due to the early hour, and that was probably for the better. The first few hours on the bus were spent catching up on sleep, as everyone was exhausted. Finally, it was lunch time, and we were forced to leave our small beds and eat something.

Elysa sat with the lads and I in the front part of the bus, which held a couch and sort of table. We all sat nearly silently as we ate the sandwiches that Paul had picked up for us while we were all sleeping just a bit earlier. Ely and I were sat on the couch, facing a TV that no one had bothered to turn on. I noticed rather quickly, though, that she was distracted by something on her phone, and I had to figure out what it was.

“I’m just talking to Zach,” she told me nonchalantly, “I never really got a chance to say goodbye to him.”

She looked back down at her phone as it buzzed again. I tried my hardest not to invade her privacy, but the thought of her laughing over something Zach was saying to her just didn’t sit right. She seemed to notice that I was uneasy and took my face in her hands in a bode of confidence that I had not seen from Ely in a while. She placed a short and sweet kiss on my lips, prompting the other lads to chuckle and tease at my expense. But she went right back to her phone.

The general sentiment on the bus was full of laziness, even as the afternoon began to creep up on us. So when Ely and I finished our lunches, we headed back to the small bunk that had been serving as our bed all morning. As we lay down, I held her close to me, trying to take my mind off of how much she was talking to Zach. After all, they were talking over the phone, and I had Ely with me right here, in my arms.

“Hold on Li,” she said, as she focused on her phone screen once more to giggle and tap out another message. Eventually, she put the phone down and plugged it into the wall of the bus to charge as she cuddled close to me. I put my arms around her as always, but she must have sensed that I wasn’t behaving normally.

 

Elysa’s POV

 

As soon as my head found its place on Liam’s chest, I sensed something was wrong. I could hear and feel his heart beating quicker than normal, and I started to get a bit worried. I let out a long sigh, trying to get him to open up and start the conversation. But when my phone buzzed and he sighed loudly, I knew that a conversation wasn’t needed.

“Are you really jealous that I’m talking to Zach?” I asked him softly. The question must have taken him a bit by surprise as I felt his breathing pattern change. “He’s my best friend Liam, you know that. Nothing is happening between us, and nothing will, ever.” I tried my best to reassure him, but it didn’t seem to work.

He and I were both silent for a few minutes as we each tried to figure out what to say. It was difficult, as the line between jealousy and anger could easily be crossed.

Niall eventually walked into the area and broke our awkward silence. “Hey mate, he Ely,” he spoke through a large smile as he plopped down onto his own bunk next to ours. “Long day, yeah?” he asked casually while turning his attention back to his phone.

Liam and I both nodded at Niall’s comment, and I took the movement as an opportunity to bring myself closer to him. But instead of placing his arm around me like usual, he sat straight up, or as much as he could in the shallow space above our bed. I looked him in the eye questioningly, but he wouldn’t connect his stare with mine.

“Liam,” I whispered, so as not to get attention from Niall, “Liam,” a little louder the second time.

“Not now Ely,” he told me in an equally low tone.

“Fine,” I responded.

I removed myself from Liam’s bed, making sure his eyes were on me, and casually lifted myself onto Niall’s bunk instead. I made simple eye contact with Liam before turning back to Niall.

“Cuddle with me Ni?” I asked him. It seemed to take him a bit by surprise, but he followed my request and placed his arms around me as Liam usually did. It had a different feeling than when I was lying with Liam, but it felt warm and comfortable none the less.

I smiled to myself and Niall before looking back at Liam, to see his face growing red with anger. He got up and darted into the bathroom at the back of the bus. I sighed slowly to myself, realizing what I had just done, and got up, apologizing to Niall. He seemed to understand as I followed Liam’s steps and knocked on the bathroom door.

“Liam?” I asked in a low tone after my first few knocks. Nothing. “Liam?” a little louder the second time. “Liam, seriously, open this door, we need to talk,” I stated more assertively.

The door flung itself back as Liam revealed his tear stained face and puffy eyes to me. I immediately felt badly for making Liam feel this way. I squeezed myself through the door and into the small bathroom, as it was the only relatively private place we could talk on this bus.

Liam and I were squished closely together, bodies nearly touching. I could feel the heat radiating off of him from his combined emotions of what must have been anger and sadness all rolled up together.

“I can’t believe you Ely,” he finally said in broken words through his tears. “You know how I feel about you being with other guys.”

“Liam, that’s ridiculous. It was Niall! I cuddled with him because you wouldn’t! He’s your best friend, you can’t seriously be jealous of him. “ I stated. But he began to break down even more.

“That wasn’t all of it Ely, you were talking to Zach and laughing and I…I don’t know. I know you’re best friends but I just…I just…” his breath caught in his throat as I finally began to understand.

I took him into tight embrace that he reluctantly reciprocated to me. I whispered softly into his ear, “would Zach or Niall get this?” before moving my lips to line up with his. His lips were still quivering a bit from his emotions, but he began to relax when he realized that I was not giving up.

Eventually, our lips were working together in synchronization as usually. When we separated only to catch our breaths, I stopped him. “The answer is no. Niall and Zach would never get that, that is just for you.” I paused and looked into his eyes, now beginning to darken with lust. I noticed the slight bulge in his pants and smiled to myself. “If you don’t believe me,” I said while teasingly stroking his chest with my fingers, “I can show you more things that Zach and Niall would never get once we get to the hotel.” I smiled and looked up at Liam’s face, which was also smiling.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, bringing his hands down the small of my back to pull me in for a short kiss again. “I was being stupid.”

The rest of the bus ride seemed to take forever. The L.A. traffic was especially bad, probably due partially to our own appearance there. Liam and I cuddled and napped most of the time until the bus came to a halt in front of a hotel. Niall, Harry, and Zayn were all sleeping in their bunks as Louis stood in the small space between the bunks to wake us up.

“Wakey wakey!” he nearly shouted. I swatted my hand towards him as if he were an alarm clock in a lazy attempt to shut him up. But when I realized that I had actually made contact with his pants, and I heard his reaction, my eye lids bolted open.

The boys all began to laugh at my simple mistake, and Liam held me in closer. “Hey, don’t go making me jealous again,” he teased into my ear.

“Oh my gosh, Louis! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! I’m so sorry!” I tried to apologize profusely but the boys all just laughed and Louis walked away.

“Don’t feel bad Elysa,” Harry told me through chuckles, “he’ll be fine.”

We eventually made it into the hotel through a small crowd of girls. I walked ahead of the boys so they could sign autographs and take pictures. While they were still outside, I walked up to the counter with Paul, before Lux captured my attention. I offered to hold her for a bit while Lou and Tom checked themselves into the hotel, and the small toddler seemed to be absolutely ok with it.

When the boys finally got inside, Harry had to pry her out of my arms. Liam placed his arms around my waist from behind and kissed me softly as Louis walked by with a teasing death glare. I only giggled as Paul handed us all our room keys and we headed to the elevator.

The doors closed behind the boys and I, Lux still in Harry’s arms. It was silent for a moment before Zayn seemed to have a light bulb go off in his mind.

“Do you guys wanna have some fun tonight?” he said rather cheekily. I was confused, having no idea what he was trying to say, so I looked to Liam. His face looked rather concerned and it started to click for me as well.

Harry jokingly covered Lux’s ears before informing Zayn that he would love to join him. Niall and Louis declined the vague offer as we walked out of the elevator and into our separate hotel rooms. Harry handed Lux off to Louis and followed Zayn to his room. The rest of us just sort of stood there for a bit as I finally figured out what was going on with Harry and Zayn.

“I didn’t think you’d be into that kind of stuff, like, you don’t drink so I figured you wouldn’t wanna…” I cut Liam off with a smile, confirming his guess.

He and I walked down the hall until we found our hotel room, and I rolled our bags in behind him. I took a deep breath, looking around at the large room that we would be staying in for a while. As I lay down on the plush blankets of the bed beneath me, Liam joined me.

“I’ve been thinking Ely,” he paused to gage my reaction, but I stayed silent, unsure of what might be coming next. “Well the holidays are coming up soon, and we get the time off to be with our families. I had been assuming that you were going to come back to England with me, but if you want to stay here with Sam I understand that too.”

My breath caught in my throat and my lips began to quiver. Liam noticed and sat up and looked at me in the eyes, but I looked away from him. This would be the first real set of holidays since the divorce, and I really had nowhere to go.

Liam placed his arms around me and let my head fall to the crook of his neck as my emotions began to fall out of me. “I’m sorry Liam, I know I said that we would-“

“No,” he cut me off. “It’s fine, I wanted to talk to you about this.” He told me, holding me closer. “I want you to feel ok for the Holidays…I want you to feel at home, wherever you are.”

By this point I could no longer hold back my tears, and I began to bawl into Liam’s arms, leaving wet stains on his shirt and rubbing my eyes. For a while we just sat together, me crying and him holding me, but eventually, all the tears had left my system and I began to think and talk things out with him.

We heard a knock on the door and Liam looked down at me to make sure I was ok. I nodded at him and as he got up to answer the door I went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face.

 

Liam’s POV

 

I walked to the door of our hotel room slowly, being cautious of disrupting Ely’s emotions at any moment. When I saw it was Louis, still holding Lux, I breathed a sigh of relief and let him inside.

“Hey Ely!” he shouted through the room.

We faintly heard Ely respond as she closed the bathroom door. I led Louis and Lux over to the extra bed that they still insisted placing us in a room with even though management knew full well that Ely and I cuddled together every night. Louis placed Lux on the ground and we watched as she explored the room, much like Ely had done when the tour started. I sighed and looked over to him, who was looking at me with concern.

“Honestly though mate, is Ely ok? I heard her crying and…” he stopped, not really knowing how to finish his sentence.

“She’s going to be fine Lou. She just,” I paused, trying to figure out what to say and how to explain what was going on. “We were talking about what was going to happen with the holidays coming up and she got really emotional. Sometimes I forget how much has changed for her.”

I looked over at Lou, expecting him to say something, but he instead kept his eye contact with me. I turned my head just enough to make sure that Lux hadn’t found herself trouble and returned my focus to my quiet conversation with Louis.

“You know her parents got divorced and most of the stuff happened over the summer while she was with us. Neither of them is really concerned about her, so she’s pretty much on her own with her brother.”

Louis nodded in understanding as the bathroom door opened again. Ely walked out looking fresher than before, most of the redness of her eyes gone and a slight smile on her face. She walked over to Lux and picked her up carefully before sitting down next to Louis and me.

It was silent for a moment, all of us just sitting there, not sure what to say. Then of course, right on cue, Lux started bawling and screaming. Elysa held the small child close to her body as she tried to comfort her, but the shrieks just wouldn’t stop coming out of her mouth. For such a small child she sure could make a lot of noise.

“Right, I’ll take her back to Lou,” Louis offered as he grabbed the girl into his arms.

I watched as he walked out the door and closed it carefully behind him. Just as I heard the click, I allowed myself to fall back onto the soft sheets bellow me. I was soon joined by Ely who placed her head in the very center of my chest. I wrapped my arms around her as usual and kissed her lightly on the head, trying to make up for lost time on the bus this afternoon. I felt my eyelids get heavier as time slowly progressed, and Ely’s breathing got deeper and slower. And all my thoughts just seemed to leave my mind.


	31. Bringing Sam To London

Elysa’s POV

 

“Call me as soon as you land, ok babe?” he told me after kissing my head softly. I nodded my head and smiled at him.

“You’re worse than my parents were, Li,” I giggled.

“I know, but I love you. I want to make sure you’re ok.”

Liam and I kissed one more time before walking in opposite directions of the airport. The boys were finally getting some time off for the holidays, and Liam had paid for me to fly to San Francisco then take a flight with my brother to London. He said that wanted us to be together for the holidays, but he was also selfish and wanted me for himself.

I sighed as I began walking towards my plane, my phone clenched tightly in my hand and my small drawstring bag on my back. I had become quite comfortable in airports, but it was different being without Liam and the boys. I triple checked my flight information since there was no one else to do it for me, and I made it to my gate.

I chose a seat in the middle of an empty area that had an outlet next to it. I plugged in my phone, worried that it might run out of batter before I got the chance to call Liam. The screen immediately lit up with Liam’s name and I couldn’t help but smile.

I just wanted to remind you that I love you. See you in London x

I couldn’t help but smile as I felt chills run through my body, just as they did when he would text me before we had even met in person. I tapped out my short message as I realized his flight would be leaving at any moment and I would be without contact from him for hours.

Right on time the flight attendants announced that it was time to board. I insisted to Liam that he get me regular seats on the plane, not first class, and he reluctantly agreed. I stood in line with the other passengers, still holding onto my phone as if my life depended on it.

My hands stayed like that throughout both of my flights, even when I was with Sam, and even when I was asleep. It almost scared me how attached I was to Liam, but it wasn’t something I wanted to think about now.

When I landed in London with Sam, it seemed eerily familiar to when I had first landed in London last summer. I was confused, lonely, maybe even a little bit lost, and excited out of my mind. Except this time I had Sam by my side, making fun of me at every opportunity. But what else were older brothers for?

“Ok, so when we get to the other side of security, the boys aren’t going to be there. There’s gonna be a crowd of girls but just ignore them. Sam…SAM!” he wasn’t paying a bit of attention to my instructions. “Or I could just leave you here in the airport…” I reminded him.

“What? No, sorry. So girls, ignore them. Then what?”

“Then we’ll see either Paul or one of their other security and they will lead us around to a car. Liam will probably be waiting for us in the car but I’m not sure about the other boys. Security will get ours bags loaded and then we’ll go to Liam’s.”

I still wasn’t convinced that he had heard a word of what I had said. I noticed he was looking at everything around him as if it was an entirely new world to him, which I guess it was. The screaming girls didn’t help much either, although most of them were much too young for him to be interested.

We finally got through the girls and found Kelly, the same security woman that had picked me up from this airport the first time. I smiled and waved to her and dragged Sam behind me as we made our way to the car. Once again it was in a rather dark area, trying to keep us relatively hidden from the paparazzi. I still wasn’t very good at handling all the screaming, especially without Liam, and I knew Sam would totally freak out, so it was best just to avoid them all together.

As I had predicted, Liam was waiting in the car for us. Louis had stayed with him as well, but the other boys had already gone back to their apartments.

“Liam!” I nearly shrieked the moment I saw him. His face lit up as I went in for a hug, a bit intimidated to kiss him in front of my older brother.

“Welcome back to London, Ely,” he whispered into my ears. “Hey Sam,” he said turning to my brother sitting awkwardly by himself. Sam just nodded in Liam’s direction and continued to settle himself in his seat beside Louis and across from me.

“Hey mate, I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Louis,” he said, extending his arm out towards Sam. My brother became suddenly nervous as he stared at Louis’ hand for a good few seconds before reaching to it with his own. Louis’ warm smile, meant to help him loosen up a bit, ultimately made him appears more nervous.

“Sam,” I whispered, getting his attention. He smiled at me and I nodded, trying to signal that Louis was ok to talk to. They were about the same age and I thought maybe they could be friends. But Sam stayed stiff in his seat as the car began to move.

I sighed, ignoring my brother’s annoyance and turned back to smile at Liam. His eyes sparkled just as they always did when we saw each other after even a short break, or in the mornings after we woke up. It took all my self-restraint not to attack his lips with my own, but the feeling of Sam being there made it feel just a bit awkward.

“You know,” Liam whispered into my ear, “it’s gonna be a long time until we can kiss again if you won’t do it in front of your brother,” he teased. I rolled my eyes at him and turned my attention back to the others in the car.

“Oh yeah, Louis, you and Sam are almost exactly the same age.” I tried to make this seem casual but in reality it seemed completely out of the blue. Louis only laughed at me.

“You sound like you’re trying to set me up with him Ely!” he chuckled. I looked as Sam seemed to blush in response.

The rest of the car ride was filled with mostly polite conversation, Liam’s arms still securely around me. Sam stayed quiet, as if he was either star struck or completely embarrassed, and to be honest, I couldn’t tell which it was. We finally arrived at the boys’ apartment complex and Louis walked towards his own door.

“If you ever wanna get away from the two love birds, I’ll be right over here,” Louis signaled to Sam. He nodded but didn’t actually respond, it was strange to see him this way.

The three of us unloaded our bags from the car and Sam followed Liam and I to the apartment. Liam slipped the key in casually and opened it up. I looked over at Sam, whose expression seemed rather familiar to mine the first time I saw the place. It was a lot larger than it looked from the outside for sure, but I think what really got both Sam and I was the exquisite furniture and designing that just wasn’t common for an apartment back in California. But to Liam, it was normal and simple. I was never sure if it was a London thing or just because of the money that Liam had, but either was it was something that I wasn’t used to, and Sam wasn’t either.

“So I guess I’ll give you the tour then,” Liam said placing his bag next to the couch. He led Sam around the apartment showing him the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and his bedroom. “I hope you won’t mind but all I’ve got for you to sleep on is the couch. I could call someone up and try to get a trundle bed kinda thing if you want, or I think Louis’ couch pulls out into a bed.”

Sam contemplated quietly, not yet giving a response.

“Hey Liam, why don’t you go change or something. Sam and I didn’t really talk on the flight at all.”

Liam took the hint and walked towards his bedroom, pulling his bag slowly behind him. I sat down on the couch and motioned for Sam to join me, which he did. We sat there quietly for a moment, not sure what to say. I suddenly felt as if I was the older sibling taking care of him.

“The way you looked at Liam…” he started quietly. I looked at him questioningly. “I’ve never looked at anyone that way. But I remember when Mom and Dad used to look at each other that way. When you were little. I didn’t know what that look meant other than I should go to my room and play by myself for a while. I usually took a nap and I always thought I heard voices in the attic.” Sam paused before turning to look me in the eyes. “Have you and Liam…?” he left his question open ended, but I knew what he was asking.

“Are you sure this is something you want to talk to me about Sam? You’ve always hated talking to me about boys and stuff.”

He sighed and looked at the floor. “No, you’re right, I don’t really want to know. I think I’m just jealous is all.”

We sat there for a while talking about Mom and Dad, and how things used to be. We remembered being little kids and playing in the yard, and our favorite dinners that we used to eat together as a family. It was strange, being on the other side of the world remembering things we used to do when we were little. But at least Sam was talking again, and happy again. I couldn’t wait for him to get to know the boys better.

Liam must have heard us talking and laughing, as he came out of his room and sat beside me, placing his arms around my waist as usual. I saw as Sam swallowed his breath hardly and blinked slowly. I kept my head down, not wanting to lose contact with Liam but also not wanting to hurt my brother.

“What do you wanna do for dinner?” Liam asked casually as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket. I looked over at Sam who shook his head without a suggestion.

“How about grilled cheese?” I suggested.


	32. New Years In London

Liam’s POV

“Just a few more minutes, love,” I told Ely.

“Liam just take this blindfold off of me, ok? I don’t care where we’re going but I need to seeeee,” she whined back at me.

“No love, it will ruin the surprise.”

I let a small smile crack simply because she couldn’t see my moment of giving in to her. The party was going to be a big surprise, and a well needed one at that. All the lads and most of the guests were already there, and Louis had taken Sam with him already. Ely was still wearing a pair of sweatpants, but I had picked out some nice dresses for her to chose from that were hanging in our hotel room suite.

“Please Liam!” she begged. I couldn’t help but chuckle. I kept my mouth shut because I knew if I let even one word out, I would ultimately give in to her.

“Ok babe, you can take the blindfold off now,” I whispered sweetly in her ear as the car came to a halt in front of the hotel.

She slowly removed the covering and visibly gasped at the site of the paparazzi near the door. There were limos and lights flashing everywhere, and she was clearly speechless.

“Surprise love,” I kissed her softly on the lips, but she didn’t move.

“Liam…I…” She couldn’t even put the words together.

“I’m going to bring the car around the back where there are no paps, and we’ll get up to our room. I’ve picked out some nice dresses for to choose from.” I stopped to find myself getting lost in her beautiful blue green eyes before I caught myself. “Happy New Years, babe.”

As the car started up again I saw the smile that I loved slowly grow over Ely’s face as she warmed up to the idea of the huge party that I had planned for her. I could see that thoughts were swirling through her head, but I knew better than to ask exactly what they were; I just wanted to enjoy the moment of my hard work paying off in such a spectacular surprise.

The car stopped again, this time in the back of the hotel, and I hopped out and ran quickly around to the other side. I opened Ely’s door and took her hand to help her down, bowing my head with a smirk as she giggled and we ran inside.

We darted straight towards the elevator which had a one way mirror so that we could see bellow us but no one could see in. I held my arms loosely around Ely’s waist and she didn’t seem to mind that I was touching her stomach as her eyes were glued to the floor below us. She watched as each person walked through the lobby and into the big hall that I had gotten reserved for the night. She seemed to be in awe as various waiters walked around with champagne and appetizers for the guests.

The elevator finally dinged and we stepped out onto the 17th floor. I released my grip from around Ely’s waist and took her hand in mine as I led her down the long hall that housed our room at the very end. I slipped my key in quickly and waited for the red light to switch to green before pushing the door in, getting a glimpse of the room for the very first time.

As the heavy door closed behind us, I fixated my eyes on Ely. She was absolutely ravishing, even if she was only wearing sweats and a t-shirt. I couldn’t deny that she looked beautiful in everything she wore – or didn’t wear for that matter.

Her natural need to explore took over quickly as she walked around the room. It had been a while since we had a hotel room with one bed instead of two, and when she noticed it she turned back and smiled at me. I grinned in response but she was already off exploring the rest of the suite. She studied the bathroom carefully and observed the small ensuite kitchen before finally stopping to admire the view of London.

I walked up behind her slowly, ready to put my arms around her once again and share a moment as we both looked out at the view of the wonderful city, but before I could make my move she turned around to face me and squeezed my own body next to hers.

“Liam, you didn’t have to do this,” she finally said after releasing me from the tight embrace.

“But I wanted to, darling,” I told her honestly as I placed a strand of hair behind her ears.

I began to lean in to kiss her sweetly, but she darted out of my arms once again. I couldn’t help but chuckle as she ran over to the rack holding out three lovely dresses that I had specially picked out for her. I knew she was never big on fashion, but I was hoping that when it came to a special occasion like this she would be able to get a bit excited. And I was right.

Her eyes destroyed the three dresses – one red, one black, and one purple – as she admired them and tried to choose. They were all elegant but also designed to show off her body in my favorite ways, and I could tell she knew that by the way she raised an eyebrow at me.

I smiled again and suggested she try the three on before choosing, and she agreed, on the condition that I wasn’t allowed to see them on except for the one she chose. Reluctantly, I agreed and walked to the other side of the room while she changed a few times.

 

Elysa’s POV

I first picked up the purple dress from the rack. It looked sweet and silky, as if it was designed to just lie casually on my body and flow as I moved around the room. I slipped it over my head and zipped it up from the side before looking in the full length mirror near the bathroom. It looked elegant and stylish and it made me feel girly and pretty as I spun around a few times. I had to remind myself that I was only trying it on as a test, and that there were two more beautiful dresses waiting for me on that rack.

I slipped off the purple dress and next grabbed the red one. This one was made of a fabric I recognized more, but couldn’t put a name too. It was a bit itchy on my skin as pulled my chest in tight before creating a high waist and skirt that almost reminded me of a tutu. I looked in the mirror and saw as my hair contrasted with the color beautifully and smiled. The tightness of the chest didn’t bother me in the way it looked, but still it was itchy.

As the red dress came off of my body, the black one stared at me from its place on the rack. I smiled back as I removed it from its hanger and admired it from afar for a bit. It too, like the purple one, was silky, but seemed to be mixed with a soft cotton type of fabric. The chest was designed to pull me in a bit without being uncomfortable, and the skirt flowed as I moved it. I slowly slipped it over my head and admired myself in the mirror before calling Liam over.

He got up slowly from the other side of the room, already dressed in a nice tux, and I saw in the mirror as he gaped.

“Would you zip me up, baby?” I asked him softly, still mesmerized by the way that this dress made me look. He swallowed hard and fulfilled my request as I felt his soft hands tremble as they made contact with the zipper that was sitting low on my back. He slowly raised the small plastic piece up until it reached the back of my next where there was a small hook that he also clasped together.

We stood there for a moment, Liam looking into my eyes through the reflection in the mirror. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face and neither could he.

“Liam,” I started softly, “I don’t think I’ve ever worn anything as nice as this.” I stopped and admired the simple dress that complimented my body perfectly. “Thank you,” I told him, just as softly as before.

Instead of replying, Liam simply spun me around and placed a soft yet passionate kiss on my lips. I smiled into the kiss and placed my hands around the back of his neck, but he refused to let the kiss get any deeper as he pulled away.

“We’ve got guests waiting ,Ely,” he smirked at me.

I couldn’t help but giggle as he took my hand in his and led me towards the door.

“Here,” he displayed his other hand to me. “Give me your phone, I know you don’t want to carry around a purse.” I smiled, realizing how well he really knew me as we began to make our way to the party.

Once again, Liam and I stepped into the elevator with a one way mirror. I stayed close to the wall that allowed me to see out and below. I saw the other boys talking to each other and some friends that I didn’t completely recognize. I spotted Sam wearing a tux that I’m sure Liam had also paid for as he didn’t own anything nice other than a bright red polo, I even saw baby Lux in a fluffy dress that Harry was fixing as he held her close to him, trying to rock her to sleep. The elevator dinged and the doors opened and I took Liam’s hand in mine.

I had been to a few fancy parties with him before, but we usually stayed alone or with just the boys making small jokes and then leaving early. But this was our party, so we were expected to socialize with the guests a certain amount, and it was clear that I didn’t know how to do that.

I first darted towards Sam to give him a hug, but I tripped over my own high heeled shoes that Liam had placed out with the dresses in the room. I sighed as Liam and Sam both ran forward to catch me. Although they were successful, I decided it would only be best to take my shoes off. I loved being barefoot anyway, and if this really was my party I should be allowed to do what I want.

Liam snickered a bit as I handed him my barely worn shoes before giving Sam the proper hug that he deserved. I turned back to Liam and watched as he tried to place my shoes in a corner where no one would take them. I walked back over and took his arm, standing on my toes so I would appear to be the same height that the shoes would have made me.

“Shall we?” I asked him, sounding as proper as I could possibly be.

“We shall,” he smiled before we took a large, coordinated step in front of us.

Throughout the night I met all kinds of celebrities that I had never dreamed of meeting. I met Simon, who was much nicer in real life than on TV. Cher Lloyd was there as well, and she was just as sweet as she appeared. I got to meet famous British athletes that I had never heard of, and I even met Ed Sheeran for a brief moment before he ran off to make jokes with Harry and Louis.

Everything was amazing, and truly nothing that I had expected. It was difficult to keep refusing champagne from the waiters walking by, but my self control was doing well and Liam fully understood. He didn’t even take his own glass, he only took a few sips from Niall’s, much to the Irish boy’s dismay.

It was getting close to midnight, and by now I had met or smiled towards every guest at the party, or at least I hoped I had. Liam and I sat together on a couch in a dark corner of the lobby where, miraculously, no one seemed to notice us. He had one arm around my shoulders and the other was placed gently on my exposed knee. I relaxed my head into his chest and yawned.

“Babe, don’t you want to stay awake for New Years?” he whispered softly into my ears.

I mumbled and nodded my head and he chuckled a bit before forcing me to sit up. I looked directly into his eyes and immediately I got lost. His hand that had been around my shoulders shifted as he softly stroked my face, and his hand on my knee moved up a bit closer to thigh. I looked down as I noticed his movement and smiled, quickly seeing what he was trying to do.

“Liam,” I spoke softly, “can we at least wait until the new year?”

I caught his eyes with my own once again as he smile and snickered a bit at my comment.

“Of course baby, whatever you want,” he spoke before kissing my lips lightly.

As if right on cue, Harry, Niall, Louis, and Zayn ran up to us, panting from running across the entirety of the first floor of the hotel looking or Liam and I. They were so out of breath that whatever they had wanted to tell us actually had to wait a few moments before Niall opened up his mouth.

Niall spoke with an accent thicker than usual probably due to the alcohol of the night, and the time as he informed us that it was five minutes to midnight. Liam and stood up, but not before he had a chance to hum the tune of a familiar song with those specific lyrics in the chorus.

“How long do we have again?” he cheekily asked the other boys.

“Five minute to midnight,” Zayn informed us casually as we got up and started walking into the main ballroom with all of the other guests.

“You’re coming home with me tonight,” Liam whispered into my ear as we walked. I couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down my spine as he spoke his words.

We continued to walk hand in hand into the main ballroom, but we were stopped by random celebrities that I had never heard of at every step. I stood quietly in my dress, trying not to show off the obvious fact that I had shed my shoes. I held on tightly to Liam’s arm, trying to appear as a proper girl with her date, but it was difficult as I wanted to interrupt with a sarcastic comment at almost every word I heard in the room.

The soccer player we had been talking to continued on his way and Liam and I dashed between bodies to make it to the front of the room. I saw Sam sitting on a couch talking with a dancer the boys knew from the X Factor that I met earlier in the night and sighed. I nodded towards him and Liam caught my signal. He laughed a subtle laugh and we continued walking.

“Babe, let him have his moment. After all, he’s been stuck with you and me the past week and half,” he reminded me. I smiled, and followed his steps, but not before looking back towards my brother and hoping that the sweet girl had enough sense to get up and leave before the clock struck midnight.

Liam and I finally made it to the front of the room and I began to stare at the clock on the wall behind him. There was a large screen playing the local news which was also counting down the minutes and seconds until the new year was upon us. As the reporters began to count back from ten, I looked Liam deeply in the eyes.

“I love you Liam,” I whispered softly, my face and lips inches from his.

“I love you too, Elysa,” he whispered.

I gazed down at his lips then back up to his eyes as I heard the reporters reaching the single digit numbers in their counting. Suddenly, his lips crashed down onto mine, three seconds earlier than I expected. But I relaxed into him as always and kept my arms lightly around his neck as the screaming and celebration in the room reached a high. It was another few moments before we finally released from our kiss and I looked at Liam questioningly.

“But it wasn’t midnight yet…” I stated, although it was more of a question.

Liam leaned in close to my ears and began to nibble on my earlobe before responding me to me softly. “I wanted to end the best year of my life the same way that I wanted to the start the next one. Kissing you,” he told me.

I pulled away from him and smiled, kissing him one more time lightly on the lips.

“Can we go upstairs now?” I asked him innocently.

Liam smiled through my question, “Of course babe,” he replied, using his hands to lead me towards the elevator.

 

Liam’s POV

A silence filled the air of the elevator as Ely and I headed back up to our room. It wasn’t an awkward silence though; there was just no need to say anything. The elevator ding broke a hole in the thick silence and caused Ely to shake a bit. I smiled at her and grabbed onto her hand even tighter than before, trying to relax her again. She smiled at me as we walked to the end of the hall again and I slipped the key in the door.

I let the heavy door swing closed behind us just as I had before and I turned to Ely, simply smiling. I was glad that I had brought her up here before and she had the chance to explore, because this time she simply stayed put and smiled back at me.

I used my hands to slowly lead her towards the bed. Before we reached our destination, I procrastinated by spinning her once, causing her to giggle.

“Can I sing you something, Ely?” I asked her shyly. For some reason I had become nervous to sing for her, even though I was completely comfortable singing in front of millions of other people every day. Maybe it was because I loved her so much, and wanted nothing more than to please her.

“Of course Liam,” she smiled, sitting back on the bed.

“I don’t have a guitar or music or anything, but I know all the words…” I trailed off, looking for my other pants where my sheet of paper was held in the pocket. I finally found it, and nervous I unfolded the wrinkled paper and began to sing the tune to myself so I could sing in rhythm. To my surprise, Ely knew the song and her face lit up with joy the moment I began.

My head is stuck in the clouds

You beg me to come down

Say, “boy, quit foolin around”

I told her, “I love the view from up here

Warm sun and wind in my ear

We’ll watch the world from above

As it turns to the rhythm of love”

 

We may only have tonight

But till the morning sun, you’re mine

All mine

Play the music low

And sway to the rhythm of love

 

I paused for a moment to gage Ely’s reaction to my song and to judge myself on how well I had sung it. But the warmth of her smile said it all and gave me the confidence to smile back and continue. This time, picking her up off the bed to spin around the room with me.

 

My heart beats like a drum

A guitar string to the strum

A beautiful song to be sung

She’s got blue eyes deep like the sea

That roll back when she’s laughing at me

The moment her lips me mine

 

She caught me by surprise by following the lyrics of song, faking laughter at the correct moment and even placing a quick gentle kiss on my lips before she joined me in singing the chorus. Her voice sounded angelic, like nothing I had ever heard before.

 

We may only have tonight

But till the morning sun, you’re mine

All mine

Play the music low

And sway to the rhythm of love

 

We both paused for a moment as if to give the track behind us time to transition into the slower verse before realizing that there was no music, just us. She put her arms around my neck and I put mine around her waist, allowing her to rest her head on my chest as we swayed and I sang to her.

 

When the moon is low

We can dance in slow motion

And all your tears will subside

All your tears will dry

 

I looked back her, brushing my thumb across her beautiful face and feeling her silky soft skin beneath my rough finger tip before continuing to spin her around playfully.

 

And long after I’ve gone

You’ll still be humming along

And I will keep you in mind

The way you make love so fine

 

And then I stopped singing, and just looked into her eyes. I saw as she swallowed hard in her throat before gazing down at my lips. I leaned in and our lips and tongues began to work in perfect harmony. We edged closer to the bed and I laid her down gently on her back, using my hands to explore her body over the beautiful black dress that she had been wearing.

She arched her back a bit and lifted her head up, allowing me to reach the zipper on the back of the dress. As I slowly reversed my work from earlier, I couldn’t help but get lost in her eyes.


	33. New Year's Resolution

Elysa’s POV

 

I woke up slowly. It was a new year, a new beginning, but at the same time, everything was exactly the same. I was still in bed with Liam, I still missed my old life, and I still had to figure out how to balance my new one. I had an absolutely amazing night with Liam in every way, but as I drifted to sleep and slowly woke up, I couldn’t help thinking that something was still missing in my life.

I must have sat there for about two hours just thinking to myself before Liam began to stir. It was odd, as he usually woke up before I did. But being alone gave me the thinking time that I needed. Just as my mind began to clear away all of my extra emotional baggage and figure out what I was missing in life, Liam spoke up.

“Good morning baby, happy new year.” He smiled through his early morning daze, eyes hazy with sleep and pleasure lingering from the night before as he lightly kissed my forehead, causing me to blush.

“Good morning Liam.”

I sighed softly into his chest as I positioned myself in the most comfortable way possible. I could feel him smiling as he grabbed my body in silence. I wanted this morning to be perfect, but it wasn’t, something was wrong, and I could tell that he felt it too.

“Liam?” I softly asked, trying to get his attention. “Can I talk to you about something?” I held my breath, waiting for his response.

“Anything, darling. What’s on your mind?”

I took a deep breath before continuing, trying to find the words that I wanted to say. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I knew there was no way to avoid it.

“Liam, I-I have a New Year’s resolution,” I told him quietly.

“What is it baby girl?” he asked sweetly. I swallowed hard again, even more worried than before.

“I want to get a 4.0 this semester.” I said it quickly and quietly, unsure if he had actually heard me say it. But his change in breathing pattern told me that he indeed had, and that it had affected him just the way I suspected it would.

The silence lasted for a few minutes as neither of us really knew what to say. We obviously didn’t want to be apart but we both knew it would be the only way. I needed to focus on school. I was far behind the rest of my class partially because Louis was not the best tutor I could have gotten and partially because I often got lost in the moment of our travels and adventures on tour.

Finally, Liam spoke up. “I guess you’ll need to go back to California then…” he said softly, stating the obvious. I merely grunted, not wanting to admit it to myself that we would have to be apart again.

The rest of the morning was silent and awkward. Liam kissed me as often as he could, and I knew that it was because he wanted every moment he could get with me. But one question remained in my mind the entire time. It was the question of how I would return to California. I wasn’t sure if Liam would pay for my flight as he had been doing so far, and I knew that I couldn’t afford it, even if Sam tried to help pay.

We walked down to the fancy breakfast set up in the ball room that our party was in last night and sat down at a table with Sam and the boys. Everyone looked exhausted and more hung over than usual, which brought a small grin to my face. Liam pulled my chair out for me and I smiled in return, pushing myself closer to the table as he sat beside me. The other boys quickly noticed something was wrong despite our efforts to hide the morning’s sentiment.

“Was he that bad last night Elysa?” Louis teased. I let out a small giggled and blushed as I shook my head and did everything possible to avoid eye contact with my brother. Liam simply leaned over and put his arm around my shoulders before lightly kissing my temple, causing me to blush even more.

“But actually Elysa, are you alright?” Niall asked, mouth full of food as if he hadn’t been eating all night like he was. I looked in his eyes, full of concern for me and made a slight nod. “Wanna talk about it?” He asked sweetly after finally swallowing his food.

I took a deep breath. All eyes were on me around the table and all I could do was take a gulp out of the glass of milk in front of me. I had to tell them all somehow, and it felt like now or never.

“I made a New Year’s resolution…” I started, just as I had with Liam.

Everyone continued to stare at me, but I couldn’t make eye contact. I felt Liam’s hand reach mine under the table and I grabbed a hold of it for support, both emotional and physical. I felt as if I would just fall out of the chair crying at any moment. Finally, I looked up at Sam across the table from me. I could tell from 17 years of living with him that he was worried for me in way only an older brother could be for his younger sister. I knew I had to just spit it out, if for no other reason, to calm him down.

“I want to get a 4.0 this semester…in school…in California.”

The table was silent as my words finally came out. I squeezed Liam’s hand beneath the table harder than I thought possible, yet he didn’t make a sound. Sam, Louis, Niall, Zayn, and Harry all stared at me with shocked with faces, no one knowing quite what to say. And slowly, I felt a tear roll down my face.

The rest of the morning was quiet and awkward as we all traveled back to the boys’ flats. Sam had been staying with Louis after the first few days of sleeping on Liam’s couch, but I could tell that he was still concerned about me for some reason as he followed Liam and me.

Liam went straight for the bedroom and Sam closed the door behind us. I sat down on the couch and looked at Sam, I knew he wanted to say something to me.

“Is Liam mad?” he asked softly, sitting down next to me on the couch.

I sighed, I had no idea what I was happening with my life. “I don’t know. I mean…I know he wants the best for me, but I know he is going to miss me. I don’t know what to say or do.”

I sat there with my brother silently for a few minutes. I eventually let my head lean down onto his shoulder and let him support me as he had been doing for most of my life. I had flashbacks to my old life back in California before my parents’ divorce, and I felt more tears slide down from the corners of my eyes.

“When is your flight?” Sam asked me out of the blue.

“That’s the thing,” I paused trying to collect myself. “What if Liam doesn’t want to pay for it? Neither of us has any money.” I looked into his eyes and he understood immediately.

“You need to talk to him sis. Seriously.”

I nodded and stood up with a deep breath. The hall to the bedroom seemed longer than usual as I took very careful steps in front of me. I finally arrived at the closed door and knocked quietly before opening it. I saw Liam lying down under the covers, music playing out of his radio that was normally silent. His eyes were squeezed closed but I could tell that he was awake.

“Liam?”I asked softly as I made my way towards him. He turned over and made eye contact with me. I saw his eyes sparkle but not in the their normal way – he had been crying. “Liam, I’m so sorry,” I started, letting my emotions go again.

“Don’t be sorry baby,” he told me sitting up and grabbing onto my hands. “I know you have to do this. I want you to do this. I’m just selfish.”

I was in shock. I thought for sure he was going to be upset at my decision. But he seemed to completely understand.

“I just… I need to do this. I need it for me and my brother and my parents and my future.”

“I know baby,” he said softly while bringing his body closer to mine. “I want you to do it too.”

We stayed in the tight embrace for what seemed like an eternity but could have lasted longer still. Every time I felt a shiver run down my spine signaling a tear was on its way, he squeezed me tighter. I felt the same from him.

“Let’s go book your flight then?” he said finally after releasing me.

I smiled after looking into his eyes. They were honest yet sad. I knew exactly how he felt as I felt the exact same way.


	34. School In California - Deja Vu

Liam’s POV

I woke up shivering and looked at the clock beside my bed. It was the middle of the night and I should be fast asleep in dreamland, but I wasn’t. I rolled over to see the bed empty beside me and tried to hold back my emotions although they ran wild within my mind.

It had been a week of this and it still had not gotten better. I missed waking up to Ely by my side. I missed cuddling until we fell asleep. I missed her voice, her touch, her kiss, her everything. We Skyped twice a day and texted all the time like we used to before we were together, but it wasn’t the same. She was in California, in school, and I was without her.

The lads and I were still in London, the tour hadn’t started back up yet. But we weren’t having a relaxing time as usual. All of us missed Ely, and I could tell from the sound of her voice on Skype and the words in her texts that she missed us just the same.

I tried to push my thoughts of missing Ely out of my mind. My eyelids squeezed tightly against each other as I tried to push the pain away, but it wouldn’t budge. I sighed, realizing it was no use to keep trying and did some math in my head. It would be 9pm where Ely was, which meant she would be getting ready for bed.

I took one last deep breath and lifted my heavy body off of the bed to grab my phone and try to call her. The cold iPhone sat in my hand for a moment as I contemplated my decision, if it would actually help or make it worse. I eventually came to the conclusion that I would only be making it more difficult for both myself and her, and I placed my phone back where it had previously been lying.

By now I was sitting up straight in my bed against the headboard. Before this summer I often slept with my head in the middle of the large bed, sprawling my limbs out as I pleased during the night. But once Ely had joined me, I resorted to sleeping mostly on one side. Seeing the other side empty saddened me, so I tried to look away.

It was no use; my thoughts would not leave my mind. I pulled the sheets off of my legs and felt the cold air hit my body instantly. A chill ran down my spine but I tried my best to ignore it as I walked out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. I only got colder when I opened the refrigerator and pulled out my carton of milk.

I sat myself on a stool as I drank the chocolate milk that I had concocted. What was I doing awake at 3am? I couldn’t believe a girl to do this to me. But she wasn’t just a girl, she was Elysa, and I loved her more than I ever thought it was possible to love another human being.

 

Elysa’s POV

I sighed to myself and looked at my clock. It was almost 9pm. I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and wake up and be with Liam, but I knew that couldn’t happen. Instead, I refreshed my facebook page one last time before crossing my bedroom. I slowly changed out of my clothes from the day and into comfortable sweats to sleep in.

I turned around and looked back at my bed which had my laptop sitting comfortably in the center of it. I felt my face transform swiftly into what I assumed would look like an emoticon using a slash. I was confused, concerned, and sad. I missed Liam’s bed terribly. Its plush and soft blankets and comforter, how comfortable the mattress itself was, and most of all, him in it next to me.

I stared at my phone sitting on the small table beside my bed. I contemplated to myself whether or not I should call him. I quickly realized that it would be the middle of the night, and I feared waking him up, so I put the idea to rest.

I lay in my bed with my computer on my lap, not even doing anything, just staring at my desktop background; a picture of Liam and me. Surprisingly, I heard a knock at my door.

“Mhmm?” I signaled to Sam who I knew would be outside of the door. He opened it slowly, looking through the small crack before opening it fully and stepping into the room. I looked up from my computer, pretending that I was feeling alright. But Sam knew me too well, he could see something was bothering me.

“I just wanted to say goodnight.” He paused, taking in my appearance. Slowly, he walked over to my bed and sat down. “Hey, Elysa,” he looked up at me and I quickly reciprocated, never wanting to let my older brother down. “I know you miss him. I miss all of them too. But,” he took a deep breath for us both, “but you need to be here. We all know that. School is so important right now.”

I smiled weakly at him and thanked him before he walked out and closed my door, turning my light out for me on his way. I sighed once more, the light of my computer lighting up my face as I felt the butterflies fly around my stomach at the thought of school starting up again tomorrow. Without another thought I closed the screen and placed the computer on the floor beside my bed. I did myself to get comfortable in bed, but it was nearly useless, as nothing compared to the feeling of being inside of Liam’s arms.

My sleep was restless to say the least. I was nervous, scared, and every emotion possible. When it was finally 8am, I lifted my blanket off of me and tried to great the morning. But it wasn’t the same without Liam there with me. I drudgingly got myself and Sam awake so he could drive me to school.

The drive should have taken about 20 minutes, but it seemed to take almost twice that. I was immediately nervous that the paparazzi had gotten wind of my return to classes and the same disaster would take place as when I attempted to start the previous semester. Sam didn’t say anything to me the entire drive, because I’m sure he was worried about the same thing. Instead, he turned the radio onto a sports talk show.

I find it strange that a sports talk show can relax both my brother and me. For him, it’s the relaxing information that he already knows, that must be incredibly reliable. For me, it’s the relaxing sound that I grew up hearing whenever he was around because I was afraid to anger him by changing the station. Regardless of why it was relaxing, it worked, and we were soon in front of the school.

Sam turned into the school parking lot from the back entrance and pulled into the first spot he saw. We both knew the area was reserved for teachers’ parking, but neither of us said anything as we got out of the car. If our fears of paparazzi were true, we would want our car to be as far away from where we were expected as possible.

Together, my brother and I walked slowly towards the administration building. My thumbs were hooked into the loops of my backpack straps as if in an attempt to tighten them, even though they were already fully tightened. His hands drifted calmly into his pockets of the baggy jeans he threw on that morning.

It only took a few seconds of walking to see that our greatest fear had come true. The paparazzi had indeed come to my school to look for me. Although honestly, there were less of them than in the fall, it was still relatively terrifying. I tried to look at Sam to ask what to do, but he refused eye contact and continued to walk.

As we got closer to the crowd I started to hear them shouting. “IS ELYSA CHEATING ON LIAM WITH YOU?”, “HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN HER?”, “WHAT WAS THE BREAKUP LIKE?” I knew immediately that there was only one person they could be talking to.

In an attempt to save Zach from what must have been terrifying for him, I ran directly into the mob, despite the yells Sam called after me. I was surprised to see in the center of all of the commotion not Zach, but the two people I despised the most. Sage and her boyfriend Taylor.

I stood beside them stunned, almost frozen. The paps were shouting questions at me now so loudly that I didn’t even notice Sage and Taylor’s facial expressions change. The only thing I truly noticed was Sam’s voice. No, that wasn’t Sam, that was Zach.

“ELYSA!” he shouted.

As if I had suddenly snapped out of a trance I ran directly towards his voice. He kept shouting, giving me a sound to follow as he walked into the administration building. I finally reached him just inside the doors and gave him the biggest hug I possibly could. I could see the reflections of the paparazzi cameras flashing, probably to begin to spread a story about how I had left Liam to rekindle an old flame with Zach. But at that moment I didn’t care. I was just happy to be safe in the admin building with my best friend.

I swiftly pulled my phone out of my pocket, remembering that Sam was somewhere outside, probably getting mobbed by the paparazzi. I texted him and his response came quickly that he had run back to the car and driven around the corner before any of them could catch them. I was able to take a deep breath as Ms. Dan lead Zach and I back into her office where we had waited for hours last time this had happened.

She had us sit down in her office and walked out, leaving a sense of déjà vu. I sighed to myself, content with the fact that I no longer had creepy old men screaming things at me, and sent a quick text to Liam, knowing that it would be mid afternoon where he was. I told him there were paps again and that I was sitting with Zach.

Instead of leaving us alone for hours like the last time, Ms Dan reappeared rather quickly with a solemn look on her face. Zach looked between us and excused himself from the room, leaving his seat open for Ms. Dan.

“Elysa, look,” she started. “This can’t keep happening. We all want you to continue your education, but it can’t happen like this. We’ve looked into some other options and I think I’ve found one that might work for you. There’s a program through the district that will allow you to take all of your classes at the community college. Even better, those classes with give you both High School and college credit. What do you think?”

I was stunned. It sounded like an amazing opportunity and I accepted it right away. She had me call Sam, being that he was my legal guardian and had to sign some paperwork. By this time the paparazzi had disbanded and it was safe for him to park normally and walk into the building.

Ms. Dan explained things to Sam and me once again and got on the phone with the person who runs the program. She explained my situation and they agreed that it would be the best option. Paparazzi would not expect me to be there, and they probably would not be able to find me among the thousands of students. More than that, the state laws were easier to work through for a college than an high school, and anyone bothering me could actually get arrested.

They said I would start tomorrow so I thanked Ms. Dan and left with Sam in the car. I could do this. I could get this 4.0 and then it would be summer and I could spend as much time as I wanted with Liam.


	35. Another First Day of School

Elysa’s POV

Sam drove me up to the front of the community college. We were both visibly nervous, but he was trying to hide it where I clearly wasn’t. If the paparazzi found me here, I wouldn’t have Ms. Dan or even Zach to go hide with. It would be all on me. And if the college decided that they couldn’t deal with it, I would have nowhere else to go to school.

We sat in the car for a few seconds without moving before Sam swore under his breath and kept driving. I was confused but I didn’t want to say anything to upset him. I finally understood what he was doing when we got to the closest parking lot. He pulled into a spot sloppily and put the car into park. He left the engine running as if he was too nervous to turn it off for some reason.

“Sam?” I said quietly, trying to figure out what exactly was going through his mind.

He looked at me with sharp eyes for a moment before turning the key in the ignition abruptly, leaving the car off but still not moving. I could tell he was nervous and scared, but he came across as almost mad.

“Sam?” I asked again, just as quietly as before.

He took a deep breath and looked at me for the first time that morning. I could see in his eyes that he was worried. I understood why. Finally he took a deep breath and started to speak.

“Elysa, I just…I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want you to let yourself down. The classes are going to be really tough here and I don’t want you to be upset if you don’t get As. And if the paparazzi come find you we can’t really do anything about it. And- “He stopped talking just as quickly as he had started. He looked down at his hands and then out the window and I finally understood what he was thinking.

“Sam, I’m going to be ok. I spent 10 years avoiding people at school before this, I think I’m pretty good at it now.” I laughed a bit to try and lighten the mood, but it didn’t help. “Will you walk in with me? Just for today?” I asked him. I wasn’t sure if I really needed it, but I knew he needed it. He was scared that something was going to happen to me.

He sighed as if it was something he really didn’t want to do and tried to hide his smile. “Ok baby sis, let’s go. Your class starts in ten minutes.”

We got out of the car and cautiously walked towards my first class. Neither of us said anything and the air between our bodies was quite tense. A few people turned their heads, but there were no paparazzi that I noticed. No flashing lights, no screaming, just people trying to get to classes.

The silent walk lasted for a few minutes until we arrived outside the door of building 17, room 103, my statistics class. I stood there for a moment, more nervous than I was before. I turned to look at Sam, hoping he had something to say to me, but he stayed quiet.

Eventually I gave him a huge hug with no words. But he knew what it meant. He was my big brother and I was his baby sister and as much as I hated that sometimes, it was what it was. He was taking care of me and I loved him for it.

He smiled as I let go and he watched we me walk into the classroom where about fifteen people were already seated. I took the seat in the back near a window so that I could see Sam as he finally bowed his head towards the ground and walked away.

 

Liam’s POV

I was beyond nervous, and it wasn’t my first day of school. Ely and I had talked almost all night about what she was in for, what she should expect and what she shouldn’t. I tried my best that entire time to stay level headed and sensible, but now that I knew she was out there actually doing these things, I was scared beyond belief.

“Mate, calm down. She’s going to be fine,” Niall told me softly as he rubbed my back up and down once in the car. The other lads sympathized with me as well. But I knew in reality everyone was scared. Anything could happen now. She didn’t have the protection of high school to help to her, she was all on her own. But I had to remind myself that Sam was going to be with her every step of the way.

The car finally pulled up to a hotel and we stepped out to see crowds of fans and paparazzi. I avoided eye contact with all of them as I heard shouts coming towards me asking if Ely and I had broken up. I didn’t want to think about Ely and what these exact people might be doing to her in California, so I raced inside as quickly as I could.

But the lobby of the hotel was no better. There were still paparazzi shouting and flashing cameras, fans asking for autographs, and countless other people standing and watching. The screams kept coming, asking if I had broken up with her or if she had dumped me. They asked if I missed her. They asked if I cheated on her. They asked if she cheated on me. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“STOP!” I finally shouted. And for once, everyone actually did. I stood there with the lads and Paul around me, my body slightly shaking, trying to figure out what to say next. “I love Elysa,” I finally spat out. “And she loves me. She’s in California in school because she needs to be, because she is a teenager who has to think about her own future.” I stopped again, feeling the lads put their hands around me, knowing how hard this was. “We didn’t break up. And I hope we never do, so please stop asking. I love her!”

By the end of my rant I was nearly screaming again, trying to hold back tears because I missed her so much. Paul and our security shuffled me through the crowds and into an elevator to get me away from the paparazzi as fast as they could. The rest of the lads were still standing in the lobby getting shouts thrown out at them as soon as the flashes started up again.

I felt the elevator begin to move and I quickly looked around, making sure there were no windows. Once I was confident that I was alone, I began to let my tears flow freely. I had to be strong for Ely, but just for a moment, I had to be weak for me. I felt Paul’s arms wrap around me for a moment before the elevator began to slow. I was careful to wipe my tears off of my face before stepping out onto my floor just in case there were more paparazzi or fans up here. Luckily, there weren’t, and Paul was able to lead me straight to my room.

There was one bed. Not two like they had insisted while Elysa was with me. I turned around and looked at Paul, who had ushered out the rest of the security, leaving just him and me. I sat down at the end of the bed and held my phone in my hand, trying to decide if the time different would make it inconvenient for me to call Ely. Paul seemed to read my thoughts and sat down next to me, taking my phone out of my hands as he did so.

It was silent for a moment before Paul finally spoke up. “You know, we booked this room for you before we knew she was leaving.” I knew he was trying to make me feel better, trying to let me know that management trusted me and Ely, but it just made me miss her more.

I sniffled a bit and Paul stood up, walking into the bathroom and closing the door. I could hear him mumbling into his phone, but I couldn’t understand a word that he was saying. He came out a few moments later with a weak smile on his face and returned to his seat next to me.

“What classes is she taking?” he asked me, trying to help me cope.

“Statistics, which she hates,” I smiled a bit, remembering her complaints about math over the past couple of months. “and political science, because she thinks it might be fun,” I continued, smiling a bit more thinking of her never ending quest to listen to the news in foreign languages that she didn’t understand. “and American History, because it’s required,” I had to stop for a moment, trying to think of the last class she was taking before I remembered. “and creative writing, because she loves it and needs an English class.”

My smile could not have possibly been any bigger as I thought about how much she enjoyed her writing. I wished she would share more of it with me, but she insisted on keeping it to herself. I had hopes that since she would be required to turn in her work for this class that maybe when she came back she would actually share it with me, but it was just a hope.

Just then, I heard a soft knock on my door. I looked at Paul, confused, but he motioned that I should go and open it. I looked through the small peep hole and couldn’t see anyone, but he insisted that I open the door anyway. Standing at my feet, waiting to run towards me and give me a hug was Lux. I smiled and took her into my arms, spinning her in circles around the room. She always made me smile when I needed it, and Paul must have known that.

Her giggles filled the room before I finally plopped her down onto the plush bed. The giggling slowly settled down as Paul stood in the opposite corner of the room, letting Lux and I have some space. The little girl didn’t know it, but she reminded me so much of Ely. The first time I met Ely she was sitting on my lap, and her blonde hair and smile were just too similar to Ely’s to ignore.

I lifted the little girl up onto my lap, looking into her sparkling, innocent eyes. She stopped looking at me for a moment and looked around the room, confused a bit before I understood who she was looking for.

“Ely’s not here right now, Lux,” I told her softly. I took a deep breath as I realized explaining things to a one year old might be even more difficult than explaining things to the paps or the lads. “She went to school. But she’ll be back soon, I promise,” I told her softly. The child’s eyes lit up once again and she smiled, subsequently putting a smile back on my face.


End file.
